More Than
by torchwoodfour
Summary: On Day Four Jack Harkness’ world crumbled. Six months later he gave up and ran. Now he's back with the Doctor, and together they discover something better, something more than their wildest dreams. Now with more fluffy Janto-ness Ch 12: Heartbroken
1. Needed

Chapter One: Needed

Restoration of Three Damaged Souls Under Catastrophic Karmic Situations

Both doors to the Tardis burst open and were immediately forced closed again by the figures that now collapsed in a heap against them. Panting, gasping for breath, the Doctor stopped and grinned wildly at his companion. At the expression he witnessed in return the words he was about to speak faded from mind. He frowned. It wasn't comfortable. The Doctor didn't like frowning; it always made him feel… tired. In the back of his mind a thought materialized, '_Ask him.'_ He pushed the thought away. It persisted, '_Do it now and he might actually answer._' If he gave in now, and she was right, the Tardis would never let him hear the end of it. Well, nothing else for it. If she was right (and she usually was) at least he'd have the answer… well, not really the answer. He didn't fool himself into thinking whatever the reply was, that it would magically solve the problem, whatever that problem was. It might, however, provide the proper next question. The Doctor frowned again. Nope, definitely didn't like frowning.

"So… Are you going to tell me what that was all about?"

"What?"

The Doctor frowned for the third time in as many minutes. He wasn't used to single word responses from the usually loquacious Captain Jack Harkness. "That. That with the Tretarans. What was that?"

"Still don't get what you're asking. Wanna be a little less specific?" Jack didn't wait for a reply. Pulling himself up from the floor with a look that clearly said it was killing him to do so; Jack headed for the central control console and pretended to be interested in the readings.

"The way you acted out there… it wasn't like you. Not at all." The Doctor followed, taking a moment to toss his coat over the support column. Jack had been with him for a few weeks now and the Doctor hated to admit he still had no idea what had happened. What had gone so horribly wrong in Jack's life to strip his friend back to nothing but raw emotion and anger? "As much as you like to pretend you don't… you do care. Well, you used to care. Do you understand what I'm saying here?"

"No." Jack bent further over the console, "And whatever it is, I don't care."

"See! I was right!" The Doctor grinned and waited for Jack to continue. Minutes passed with only silence. "Jack…"

"What?" Jack's response snapped a bit more than he'd intended but there was no way he was going to appologise.

"Why don't you care anymore? The Jack I knew was a… he… would have wanted to help the Tretarans. You just followed me and did what I asked of you. What happened, to your humanity, Jack?" The Doctor's voice was so soft Jack could have ignored it, quite easily in fact. He could have left, gone to his room, gone anywhere. After half a year, however, Jack Harkness was finally ready to talk about it.

"He died." It was less than a whisper, little more than a sigh, but just saying the words were like finally accepting defeat. Jack collapsed into the Doctor's arms and cried uncontrollably. "He died and I couldn't stop it. I couldn't save him."

The Doctor held Jack and waited for the sobs to lessen, "And he was?"

Jack opened his mouth but found that the act of simply saying the name was more than he could bear. He felt the vague brush of a thought in his mind as the Tardis caressed his emotions, "_Show him to me." _

In a less fragile state Jack might have resisted, fought the idea of sharing something so personal. As it was, the images came unbidden to his mind. _A suit, a steaming mug, a tie, a smile, such stormy blue eyes, so expressive, an eyebrow raised, an elusive laugh that meant more than life itself… _Jack laughed in return and the images started to flow. _Naked hide and seek, chocolate, reports with little markers where to sign, perfect hair, and the smell of vanilla, the look of absolute restraint, the face of utter release. Containment and inhibition, control and abandon. Intelligence and sympathy, trust, loyalty, support…_ As the thoughts cascaded turbulently through him, one word came to Jack's lips, "Ianto."

The Doctor moved Jack to a more comfortable position, never once letting go. "He was there, when the Earth was stolen. Very polite, if I remember, for a young man in the 21st century."

"That's Ianto, very polite. Very… polite." Jack smiled at the 'polite' images that flitted across his mind:_ Can I get you a coffee, Sir?;_ _Yes I am questioning your authority and will continue to do so every time you make such sweepingly hazardous decisions… Sir; Jack, may I just point out that you are being a complete git?; OhJackohyespleasejustlikethatohyesplease_… Sensing what might have been the Tardis starting to giggle; Jack wiped the memories from his mind. "He was…" Try as he might, Jack found it absolutely impossible to come up with a single word to describe Ianto. There was nothing that could come even close to doing him justice.

"Brilliant?" The Doctor suggested.

Jack considered all the connotations, "Yes. In every way."

"I think I would have liked him."

"I think, Doctor, you would have loved him." Jack suddenly grinned at the thought of fighting the Doctor off Ianto with a rolled-up magazine. The Tardis transferred the mental image to the Doctor with a chuckle.

"But Ianto was yours, wasn't he?"

"I like to think so. My loyal Ianto. He had his own opinions… about pretty much everything, in fact. But in front of the others, he was only ever about me, or my plan. He challenged me, but only ever in private. He was my support, and I don't mean office support. When things got impossible, he always found the perfect way to let me know he still had faith. Faith in me. He made me so much better than I could ever have been, without him. I used to say that Gwen was the heart of Torchwood, but I think that's wrong. It was Ianto. He was the heart and soul of Torchwood… and of me. I miss him, Doctor. I miss him so much. So, so much."

This time when the tears came, they were softer. Sobbing no longer wracked Jack's body, only his soul. That was how Jack woke, hours later, in the Tardis control room, alone. "Doctor?" He called. "Doctor?" he yelled. Reaching out with a thought, _Where is he?_

The only response was a caress, "_Wait."_


	2. Special

As the Doctor placed his screwdriver against the lock mechanism and pressed the button he involuntarily tensed at the volume in the empty corridor. He fingered the psychic paper in his pocket and hoped he could get through this without any bothersome confrontation. The building was entirely too full of weapons for his liking. He smiled to himself at the reassuring click and waited as the door swung open.

The hall he entered now was not entirely unlike the one he had just left. Remarkably similar, in fact, were it not for the rows of tables crowding it. Too many tables. Each table was covered with a sheet, and the Doctor frowned again at the thought of what was under each of them. Too many. He closed his eyes and sighed before heading to the first in line. As he approached the table the Doctor reached deep into his own being and felt around. There was no need to look further. Sad as it was, this one was as it should be. Moving down the line the Doctor reached into the vortex again and again, searching.

There, the third table from the end, a glimmer. A subtle shifting in the time stream. Pulsing so slightly, ever so gently, so light, but there it was. Something that should never have been. Something he could change. The Doctor moved closer, his hand hesitated above the corner of the fabric. What if this isn't…? No, it has to be. He grasped the edge of the material and pulled it back slowly, almost reluctantly. He stared at the body lying before him. Startled at how young he looked, how young he was, the Doctor reached out and into time yet again. Still faint, still little more than a shimmer, but it would be enough. The Doctor grinned.

Leaving the sheet folded back, the Doctor leant forward and placed a hand on the body's chest. Cold. So cold, so young and so lost. And there was something else, something… wrong. Not wrong. Out of place. Something out of place in Jack's young friend. The Doctor positioned his long fingers on either side of Ianto's head and stretched out into the darkness. Feeling. Searching. Probing. The glimmer coalesced in the Doctor's mind. A swirling, undulating cloud dove and darted around him. The Doctor couldn't help but smile as the golden light's emotions and thoughts flitted amongst his own. "Cheeky," he grinned even wider. "Oh Jack was right. I do like you." The Doctor's brow furrowed in concentration, "Can't leave you all alone in the night," he paused to catch the response. He couldn't help but laugh, "Especially not with that sense of humor… But why can't I get a grasp on you? Oh I really hope it isn't too late after all." Feeling deeper, reaching further, "But that's not it, is it? There's another reason…"

The Doctor withdrew his fingers and immediately physically regretted the loss of contact with the shimmer. "But that can't be." He opened his mouth and closed it again straight away. "You couldn't be." It was impossible. The Doctor knew that. Clearly he knew that. But still, on the off chance… He smiled a small apology at the man lying still on the table before him and commenced a search. Trouser pockets empty, front and back, "Jack'd never forgive me for doing that. What say we never tell him, hmmm?" Nothing hung around the neck. "What are the chances you'd actually have it on you, anyway?" The waistcoat pockets… a bulge. "Oh my boy, things are looking up! Now, just how lucky can we be?" The Doctor closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and reaching into the pocket pulled out a silver stopwatch. His finger ghosted lightly over the back before he dared turn it over and risk taking a look. Flipping the watch over, the Doctor oh-so-slowly opened an eye. Then he opened the other. Then he stared at the delicately swirling designs that graced the back case of the stopwatch for the briefest of seconds. He blinked. He blinked again. Just to be sure, he blinked a third time before jumping up, punching the air with a fist, and letting out a whoop that could wake the dead. Well not really, but considering the surroundings… He put a finger to his lips and shushed the man on the table before him.

"Apparently, my friend, we could be very, very, very…" He paused and counted mentally, "very lucky. Now, let's try this again." The Doctor placed his left hand back on the side of the Ianto's head and reached into the dark once more. Instantly the shimmer was again there at his side, "Now, Ianto Jones, let me introduce you to the real you." He flicked the back casing of the stopwatch open to reveal the workings within. A golden shimmer, twin to the one coursing in and around his thoughts, burst from the watch and dove into the body before him. Tempted as he was to stay and watch the reunion, the Doctor removed his hand from the head and his mind from the vortex. Standing back, he waited, "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, you can do this. Fight your way back. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon."

A full minute passed. A second minute. A third minute… went absolutely unnoticed as, with a sound something like a gasping fish, Ianto Jones sat bolt upright on the table and punched the Doctor squarely in the jaw. "Ow!"

"Sorry! I am so sorry!" Ianto looked at the man reeling in front of him.

"That's okay. Being brought back can throw anyone a bit… off." The Doctor stood, rubbing the side of his face. Heck of a right hook.

"Still, I shouldn't have hit you. Sorry." Ianto paused only a second, "I'm sorry…"

"No really. It's fine. I'm fine. Not a problem." The Doctor grinned while still rubbing his jaw. He watched the young man look around him. Watched the sadness cloud the blue of his eyes as he clearly remembered. Watched as Ianto took a deep breath, sighed, and smiled sadly.

"Um… may I ask you a question, sir?" Ianto looked down at the cloth still draped over his legs.

"Sure. Long as it's the right one."

"The children. Are they safe?"

Oh that was _so_ the right question. "Yes. Yes they're safe." The Doctor grinned.

"And Jack?" Ianto swung his legs off the table and shimmied to the edge.

"Jack is… missing you."

"Where is he? Can I see him?" Ianto stood up and immediately fell straight to the ground. The sheet that had so recently shrouded him fluttered down after him and came to rest with a corner draped over Ianto's head.

"Careful there, you've been mostly dead for a little while. Best to take things slowly." Rather than help Ianto back up, the Doctor slid down to sit on the floor at his side.

"Mostly dead," Ianto snickered, slowly pulling the sheet off and onto his lap. "Someone's been watching _The Princess Bride."_

"Inconceivable."

"Can I see Jack?" Ianto tried again, hoping that the neediness he felt hadn't slipped into his voice.

"Soon. We really should talk first."

Ianto raised an eyebrow and peered at the man next to him, "I'm not going to like what you have to say." He tried to lighten his tone, tried to smile, "Am I?"

"Why do you say that?" The Doctor's face was unreadable.

"Because the way my life's been going lately," Ianto sighed, looking at his feet. "I've found it best not to expect too much… good."

"Well, I don't know, Mr. Jones. From where I'm sitting, this is good. Very good."

"Hmm." Ianto glanced at the floor where the Doctor sat next to him. "What a difference a few inches can make." Ianto tried a smile that didn't quite come across as hopeful. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well… First I'm thinking we should get out of this place. Find somewhere nicer. Oh! Do you like bananas?"

"Yes. But could you please explain to me how that wasn't a completely non-sequitur question? You see, I've apparently been 'mostly dead' and I'm feeling a little… well, like I'm a page or two behind everyone else." Ianto started to rub at the scuff on the toe of his left shoe.

"I'd say you're keeping up admirably." The doctor stood an offered Ianto a hand up. "I was just thinking how much I'd like a banana milkshake, and a nicer place to sit and have that talk."

Ianto took the Doctor's hand and pulled himself up, "Thank you. I could really go for a coffee, myself."

The Doctor smiled and gestured to the door. Ianto paused and placed the now neatly folded sheet on the table he had just vacated. As they walked, the Doctor noted the sad look Ianto offered to the still covered tables they passed. Ianto paused at the door, a last look at the long rows before he turned to the Doctor, "Nothing we can do for them?"

"I'm afraid not."

Ianto just sighed and opened the door with a quiet, "Too many." And the Doctor had to agree.


	3. Wanted

"Why do you bother having a coat rack, if you don't use it?" Ianto picked up the coat and smoothed the wrinkles in the brown fabric before carefully re-hanging it properly on the rack by the door.

The Doctor tried, he really, really tried not to stare at the amazing young man before him. "What?!?"

"Things need to be taken care of, looked after… if you want them to last, that is." Ianto moved away from the rack and up the ramp.

The Doctor waited as Ianto slowly looked around him. After a moment or two longer he blurted out, "Haven't you noticed… anything?"

"Maybe." Ianto's tone remained neutral. "What, exactly, was I meant to be noticing?"

"The Tardis…" The Doctor motioned wildly about.

"Yes, sir. It's very nice." Ianto looked about him and moved towards the central column.

"Yessss, but…" The Doctor waited. Ianto only smiled at him in reply. "C'mon!"

"Doctor?"

"It's… bigger on the inside!"

"Yes, yes it is." Ianto ran a finger along the railing and wondered how long it'd been since someone had given her a proper cleaning.

"Everyone always comes in, takes a look, goes back out, comes back in and says 'It's bigger on the inside!'"

"Yes, well, I would have thought that were obvious and didn't bear commenting on. If you prefer… Would you like me to…? I could go out, come back in again…?"

"Oh you are an impossible man, Ianto Jones."

"I've been called that before."

"I bet you have." The Doctor grinned, "I have someone here I think you'd like to see."

The Tardis was one step ahead already.

* * *

An image drifted though Jack's mind as he lay on his bed, fitfully trying to sleep. The same old nightmares were battling for dominance in his weary brain. There were several different horrors, different versions, but they all ended the same way: loosing hope, loosing meaning, loosing Ianto. The new image, however, persisted. It pushed back the nightmares one by one until only it remained. Jack sat bolt upright in the mussed bed and stared at the wall. If only it could be truth. If only. A thought glided through his thoughts. "_You were right. The Doctor does like him."_

Jack was through the corridors of the Tardis and into the control room before he realized he'd even left his bedroom. His eyes frantically scanned the room before locking on its only inhabitant. The Doctor stood at the center console, hands in pockets, and grinned at Jack madly. "Hullo Jack."

"Oh… Doctor… I thought…" The disappointment was evident as Jack's shoulders sagged and he looked as crushed as a man could be.

"You know what you need, Jack? Good cup of tea. Mind, can't think of anyone who could use a _bad_ cup of tea… But anyway! Where was I? Oh yes, tea!"

Jack noticed the pause, the strange lilt in the Doctor's voice and looked up again. The Doctor was still grinning wildly, but he was now looking behind Jack, to the door. Heart racing, not daring to hope, Jack spun around. It couldn't be. He blinked his eyes hard, fearful of opening them, Jack took a deep breath. He opened his eyes. It couldn't be. Jack Harkness didn't believe in ghosts. It couldn't be.

Ianto Jones stood holding the tray of tea things and stared at the vision before him. It couldn't be. Sometime in their long conversation over milkshakes and coffee, the Doctor surely would have told him that Jack was aboard. It couldn't be. Oh to hell with that, it was. Jack! Suddenly the Doctor was taking the tray from him and Ianto broke out of his stupor. Three running steps and he was in Jack's arms and being swung off his feet and around in circles. At least Ianto hoped he was being swung around in circles… but that would account for the dizziness he was currently experiencing, and the spinning of the room and all.

The kiss. The kiss was definitely real. No one else, real or imagined, ever kissed this great. With that, Jack finally allowed himself to believe. He stopped spinning Ianto and reluctantly stopped kissing him long enough to sink deep into the blue of his eyes, "How? No wait! I don't care how." He kissed Ianto again, just to make sure. Definitely not a ghost. "Ianto? Is it really you?"

"Yep." Ianto smiled that little quirk of the lips that sent Jack wild. He was kissed soundly again for his efforts. "Why? Did you miss me?"

Jack grinned, really grinned, for the first time in longer than he could remember. "Yes. Yes I did." He pulled Ianto's forehead forward until it touched his own. Hands resting on the slender hips, Jack gazed deeply into Ianto's eyes, "I love you too. I should have said, before. I should have said lots of times before. But I-"

"Shhh," Ianto placed a finger on Jack's lips. "Just as long as you can say it now… and from now on." He replaced his finger with his lips. Jack moved his hands around to grasp Ianto and draw him tightly up against himself.

"Ummm, just so you know," the Doctor called. "I'm still here. Hello."

Jack never broke his gaze from Ianto, "You did this, didn't you Doctor?"

"Ummm, yes. Yes I did."

"So all that rubbish about time lines, changing history?"

"Still applies, I'm afraid."

Jack tore his gaze from Ianto's eyes and glared at the Doctor, "You can't have him back. You gave him back to me and there is no way you're taking him away again. I don't care about paradox. I don't care about any of it. I won't let you. No way!"

The Doctor admired Jack's… enthusiasm, even if it was just a little on the wrong side of threatening. "Relax, Jack. I'm not taking him away from you. But there are some things about Ianto Jones that you need to understand."


	4. Different

"No, Jack, Ianto is not a zombie." The Doctor was really starting to feel more than a little tired.

"Brains…" Ianto couldn't help moaning from where he was putting the final touches on their lattes.

"Not helping," the Doctor couldn't resist the smile that crept up on him in place of the frown.

"Sorry." Ianto appeared with three mugs of triple shot latte, extra foam with chocolate shavings. "Can't we just leave it at, 'I'm not dead, I'm like the Doctor,' and relax with our coffees?"

"Ianto is a Timelord?" Jack found he couldn't stop staring.

"Yes Jack. That's what I've been trying to tell you for the better part of an hour now." The Doctor began to rub small circles with the tips of his fingers into the aching spots on his forehead. Really, Ianto had taken the news in stride but Jack… Jack just seemed unable to cope.

"But Ianto… is a Timelord?"

"Yes Jack." he sighed.

"My Ianto… from Newport… is a Timelord?"

"Well no, as I'm apparently a Timelord, it would seem to suggest that I'm not really from Newport after all." Ianto offered brightly. "Well, not originally. I did grow up in Newport, if that's counting for anything."

"My Ianto… is-"

"Yes Jack!" the Doctor hissed. The soothing hands rubbing his back paused and patted his shoulder gently. _When had Ianto started doing that? Oh and please! Don't let him ever stop._

"It'd probably be better to just start at the beginning," Ianto felt the Doctor relax into his back-rub. He looked to Jack and couldn't help smiling at the expression he saw there, 50% bemused, 50% jealous. He winked and Jack's expression shifted.

"You already know a little bit about my family." Ianto began.

"I don't know anything." Jack answered brusquely before thinking. At the startled sadness that flashed across Ianto's face, he took a breath and continued, "Its okay, Ianto. It's not like I've told you much… anything really… about my family. But Rhiannon, she told us your father worked at Debenham's." Jack realized that he couldn't help wondering what else wasn't quite true. He fully appreciated that it didn't change the way he felt about Ianto, he just wondered.

"You think I lied to you."

It wasn't a question, but Jack shrugged anyway, "Like I said, not like I've told you much, either."

"Jack, Rhiannon's father worked at Debenham's." Ianto gave the Doctor's shoulders a final smoothing stroke before resuming his seat.

"And Rhiannon is your sis- oh." Jack stopped assuming and finally started to listen again.

"It would seem I wasn't even born in Wales at all."

"My favourite Welshman isn't Welsh?" Jack gasped in mock horror.

"Jack."

"Sorry." Jack smiled, "Please continue."

"I didn't lie, Jack. My father was a tailor. But before that…" Ianto paused. This was all so new to him as well. Bits and bobs of memories. Thoughts and feelings he'd had, but never understood.

The Doctor caught Ianto's eye and grinned encouragingly at him. Jack couldn't help but notice a subtle and yet striking similarity as Ianto returned the Doctor's smile with one of his own. That grin, oh so rare before, was a thing Jack would have gladly given all his lives to behold. Now it flashed across Ianto's face with an alarming ease and regularity. There was a joy in Ianto now, a hopefulness that mesmerized Jack no end. But at the same time, he couldn't help but worry that something had changed, perhaps been lost, something of his Ianto. Jack's Ianto. Still. Ianto was here. Ianto was alive. The wit, the understanding, the spark that had been was still there now. Even if it was just a little bit different, well Jack could accept that. His amazing Ianto Jones.

"I think the phrase you're looking for is…" the Doctor smiled softly. "'Once upon a time…'"

Ianto returned his gaze to Jack and started over with a slightly self-deprecating smile, "Once upon a time… there was a man. A single Timelord alone in the Capital of Gallifrey, alone and lonely in a city of millions. There was something about the Timelord race, the way they liked to observe… to watch…"

Jack didn't say a word as both Ianto and the Doctor shot him warning glances. Ianto did reach over and close Jack's mouth for him as he had apparently been on the verge of saying just that.

Ianto continued, "They never did approve of involvement, interaction. This Timelord was never quite like that, and as such, they didn't quite approve of him either. So when he was younger, he used to travel… just like the Doctor does now. Exploring the universe. Having adventures." He shot the Doctor a cheeky smile capped with a wink, "Getting into trouble… And like the Doctor, this Timelord didn't like to travel alone."

Jack couldn't help but think that Ianto meant to say 'didn't like to _be_ alone.' Since meeting the Doctor, and especially since meeting Ianto, Jack found that he couldn't help but agree with that way of thinking. Together was definitely better.

"His favourite companion was his last. They travelled for years together, near and far, forwards and back. Eventually, however, each felt they'd seen enough, travelled enough, and spent too long away from anything that could realistically be called 'home.' The Timelord returned to Gallifrey and a quiet life, but not before returning his companion back home to Newport. Each back where they were born, each met someone, each fell in love and each started a family.

"Things went as they should for everyone. They were happy, for a while at least. But then, things started to go… wrong. You know about the Time War?" Ianto smiled at Jack's roll of the eyes, and took a sip of his latte before continuing. "The Timelord wasn't exactly expected to go to the front lines, but he saw what was coming. The woman he had loved, she had been a fighter. She'd fought, and she'd already died. He couldn't stop it, and he couldn't stop what was coming, but he could protect his only child. As such, he took his son as far from the battlefield as he could. He hid him in time and in space and even in who he was. The Timelord took him to Earth; to the one person he trusted most, to his old friend and his last companion, a man named Owain Jones.

"How old were you when this happened? How do you know all this?" Jack looked from Ianto to the Doctor. The Doctor just shook his head.

"I wasn't quite three when my father made me human. As for how I know, I'm not really sure. I don't even understand the mechanics of it all." Ianto swirled the bits in the bottom of his mug and noticed how the last of the frothed milk resembled a tiny swirling galaxy before melting away, lost to the coffee.

"It's called a chameleon arch." The Doctor had finished his latte and stared longingly into the depths of his empty mug. "The process re-writes… well, re-structures, really, the DNA in one fell swoop. The Timelord self is stored away and becomes the key to restoration. Kept, in Ianto's case, inside his stopwatch."

Jack felt dazed, "No wonder you always seemed so protective of that watch. Why you always had it with you… When you told me that there were lots of things you could do with a stopwatch, I have to admit, this never came to mind."

"It never came to mine, either. My father, well, my adoptive father, always told me to protect it. Made me promise to keep it safe and with me always."

"And you always keep your promises…" Jack smiled and was thrilled to recognize the shy smile Ianto returned this time. Still Ianto. Still his.

"If that watch had ever been lost, Ianto would've been human… well, forever. Or until…" The Doctor never finished.

Jack looked between them eager to think of something other than what could have been, "You said this chameleon arc, that it re-structures the DNA? Doesn't that hurt?"

"Arch. Chameleon arch. And Oh YES!" The Doctor answered with enthusiasm, but Jack knew him too well not to understand the implication of the tone. "It hurts beyond comprehension."

"But he wasn't even three. He was just a baby." Jack gazed at Ianto as if expecting to still see traces of the pain left in the depths of his eyes.

Ianto smiled softly and placed a hand on Jack's arm, "If he hadn't done it, I would have died with him. With all of them."

Jack chanced a glance at the Doctor, wondering how much he'd told Ianto about the end of the Time War. The glimmer of guilt and sadness that flashed in the Doctor's eyes was mirrored in the blue of Ianto's. Whether the Doctor had told him, or if he just knew, it didn't matter. Jack sensed that Ianto understood. Only two.

What, exactly, he knew or had guessed Ianto never said. He did sense the change in the emotions in the room. "So! My father asked the one man in the universe he could trust, if he would take me, raise me as his own. Suddenly Rhiannon had a brother."

"So when Rhiannon said your father worked at Debenham's…"

"Her father, my adoptive father, my real father's companion. I can't explain it, Jack. Not even to myself. When I told you about my father, that he had been a tailor, I don't know how I knew. I'd only ever known the Jones family. It's not like I... It just felt right, when I said it, telling you what I did. No one had ever told me about my real father, least of all the Joneses. But as soon as I said it, I knew it was truth. All my life, it's like I've had someone else's thoughts floating around, just out of reach. When I was about 16 or so I really worried that I was schizophrenic."

Ianto had said it with humor, but Jack could see that there was more truth to that than Ianto wanted to admit. He considered how life must have been for Ianto. Wondered if he'd always felt different. Apart. Alone.

"But Owain Jones, he really was so much like a father to me. When he could get time off, we used to go on adventures together. Really I think he must have been re-living his travelling days with my father. He used to especially love Saturdays when he could take me to the theatre…"

"The Electro!" Jack grinned.

"The Electro!" Ianto closed his eyes and pictured the old cinema. Jack noticed how the look of fond remembrance added a romantic aura to Ianto's gorgeous features.

Both the Doctor and Jack watched as Ianto's memories made him smile before he seemed to snap back to the present. He opened his eyes and smiled again, this time apologetically, for the lapse. Jack couldn't help but notice how much and how little Ianto had changed. Ianto continued, "His favourites were always the old action films, Robin Hood and the like. I think he was trying to show me how his life had been, back when they roamed the galaxy. Show me people, characters who were like how my father had been. And maybe just a little, to re-live those times himself."

"See! Just as I said, he's brilliant!" Looking between his two companions, the Doctor found it easier to grin than it had been for a very long time. For the first time in so long, they truly were companions.

"What, like I'd ever disagree with that?" Jack looked back at Ianto and for a moment caught another glimpse of that same sad disbelief he always got whenever Jack complimented him. Jack could never understand how Ianto could be so smart, so gorgeous and so amazing, but always be the last one to see it in himself. Jack vowed that whatever it took, he'd find a way to banish that look from Ianto, forever. By the expression on the Doctor's face, he seemed to have an ally.


	5. Anxious

It was late in the evening. Well as much as there ever really was actually a time such as evening on board the Tardis. They were floating in the vortex, having left off all discussion of where or when they would go next until morning. Well, as much as there ever really was actually a time such as morning. The Doctor, Jack and Ianto relaxed in what was essentially a enormous, yet at the exact same time cosy, quite handsomely decorated library.

The Doctor lounged comfortably on a plush, over-stuffed sofa, his expression furrowed in concentration as he pondered over an Agatha Christie. Opposite him, on an equally plush and comfortable sofa, Jack cuddled up with Ianto. Jack lay on the sofa and Ianto lay against him, held snuggly in Jack's arms. Ianto reached to turn the page and paused, tilting his head and silently asking if Jack was ready to go on. Jack smiled and rubbed Ianto's arm. He'd given-up trying to keep pace with the brilliantly gorgeous man in his arms at least a chapter an a half ago. He had, instead, contented himself to watch, and hold, and occasionally nuzzle.

Jack gazed at the fireplace at the end of the room as it sparked and crackled. When he'd first traveled with the Doctor, so long ago, he'd been fascinated by the concept of a fireplace on a spacecraft. He'd questioned the Doctor about the mechanics of it for days. Now, warm and happy, the _how_ no longer mattered. It simply was.

"Suppose I could just stop asking if it's okay to turn the page," Ianto laid his head back further against Jack's shoulder and stole a kiss.

"Hmmm." Jack closed his eyes and enjoyed the lingering taste of Ianto's lips.

"I'm guessing… about a chapter and a half. Maybe as far back as two?" Ianto rotated his neck slightly, caressing his cheek against Jack's. "Hey. Are you even listening to me?"

"Every word." Jack purred at the touch and sinking into the warmth of his accent, held Ianto just that little bit closer.

"I was thinking," Ianto whispered in a husky tone.

"Mmmhmm?" Jack closed his eyes.

"My eyes are getting a little bit tired." Ianto shifted just the smallest fraction.

"Mmmm…" Jack shifted as well, enjoying the friction.

"That maybe, when I've finished this chapter," Ianto distractedly ruffled the page corners of his book. "Maybe it might be time for bed… Sir."

Jack's eyes snapped open at the 'Sir.' His breath caught as he finally managed to squeak, "Oh yes!"

The Doctor coughed gently. _Yes, not alone. Still in the room. Hello_.

Jack shifted his shoulders and with an entirely too serious expression added, "You know, I'm kinda tired myself." He reached forward and paged through Ianto's book. Four and a half pages to the next chapter break. He could wait four and a half pages. After all, he'd waited a century for the Doctor, he'd waited two millennium to be dug up, and he'd waited all of his life for Ianto Jones... He could wait four and a half pages. Couldn't he?

Jack's breathing and pulse rates increased as Ianto turned a page. Anticipation. Expectation. Longing. He wrapped his arms tighter around the young Welshman… the young Timelord… and waited, not too patiently. Another page. Jack repositioned, like a runner at the starting block. Not long now. His hand on Ianto's chest, longing to stroke and caress. Jack shifted his hand on Ianto's chest slightly. He shifted it back again. A feeling, like a wave, crashed over him and Jack felt as if it would drown him. A rushing, like adrenaline, coursed through him. Jack fought his muscle's urge to tense. For an instant he wanted nothing more than to run.

Ianto laid his own hand on Jack's and held it there, "What's wrong?"

"Aren't you done yet?" Jack was proud that he'd kept his voice calm and level.

"Just finished. Thus the bookmark and closing of the book, and all." Ianto wasn't convinced by Jack's level tone, but let it go. Standing up, he offered a hand to Jack. He continued softly, a small look of concern hidden behind an even smaller smile, "Shall we?"

Jack grinned widely and taking Ianto's hand hauled himself up from the couch. He completely missed the small frown that Ianto shot the Doctor, as well as the small shrug and frown received in return.

Ianto knew Jack and he immediately knew precisely what was wrong. As much as Jack had tried to cover his suddenly stiff manner and hesitancy, Ianto knew. He just had no idea, whatsoever, what he could do about it. Things were different. He was different. Possibilities raced through Ianto's mind like a cyclone. A blur of what could be that made him dizzy. He reached out and placed a steadying hand on the corridor wall.

"Hey, there." Jack caught him and held Ianto steady. "You okay?"

Ianto managed a soft smile at the concern in Jack's voice, even as a part of him advised it was just residual emotion, left over from a time before everything had changed. "Guess I really am tired after all."

"I'll call the Doctor." Jack gazed at Ianto.

"No. It's okay. Really." Ianto pulled away from Jack reluctantly and continued down the hallway. "Just need some sleep." Tears welled in his eyes as he realized Jack wasn't following him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

Jack hesitated. The sound of Ianto's double-heartbeat still pounding in his ears, panic flared again. Jack watched as Ianto made his way down the corridor. Watched as he quietly pulled and re-adjusted his perfectly straight waistcoat. Several quick steps and Jack was again by Ianto's side, wrapping an arm around his waist, "You walk too fast, IantoJones."

Ianto returned the smile with warmth, but a cold spot in the pit of his stomach let him know that things simply weren't that simple.

They entered the bedroom together and paused. There was an awkwardness that felt like a tangible presence in the room before them. Ianto swallowed hard as he realized that they hadn't been this awkward alone together since that first time. Since Ianto's first time. Even when Jack had risen from the dead (and kissed him in front of everyone,) when Jack had returned from his travels (and asked him on a date,) or when they'd danced for the first time together in public (and Ianto had actually almost tried to lead.) Nothing had ever felt this… wrong.

Ianto just wanted everything to be the same again. The same Jack, the same Ianto, the same everything. How it all had been, before. Maybe he would ask the Doctor if he could use the chameleon arch. Become human again. Destroy the watch. There was no guarantee that Jack would… care for him again, but there might be a chance. He would give up the knowledge, the understanding, and give up the feeling of finally fitting in… he'd give up everything and just be the teaboy again, if that's what it would take for Jack… If that's what it took, he'd willingly sacrifice it all.

The thoughts drifted through Jack's mind. Faint at first, then they grew more insistent as the Tardis refused to back down, "_You always loved Ianto's empathy, his sympathy, his heart. He's still Ianto. Still Ianto's heart. Now he just has two. Not different. Two hearts to love you. He gave his heart to you a long time ago. Now he's ready to give you them both." _Jack was still preoccupied, listening internally when he looked sorrowfully at Ianto.

"I was right then," barely a whisper as Ianto turned away.

"Yeah, you usually are," Jack tried a grin, a quick casual laugh. It didn't work. He tried again, "At least now we know _how_ you know everything."

There was no response or reaction. Jack clenched his jaw and considered what quip or joke could salvage the… situation. The Tardis' thoughts pushed into Jack's mind again without hesitation, "_It's not a 'situation.' It's Ianto."_

Jack frowned and tried to push her away, "_I know it's Ianto! But, it's not… He's not. He's… I don't know what he is anymore."_

The Tardis was not so easily dissuaded, "_He's Ianto."_

"_He's a Timelord." _Jack growled inside his own thoughts.

Jack could almost feel the sigh as the Tardis drifted away, "_He's Ianto. Talk to him. See him."_

He reached out towards Ianto, Jack's hand not quite touching the slightly sagging shoulder. Drawing the fingers back, and then his whole arm. _He's Ianto._ "So… What were you right about, this time?" Jack tried to keep his tone relaxed, hide the quiver, the indecision. He couldn't hear Ianto's response, sounding as it did, like little more than a drawn-out sigh. Jack maintained his practiced, nonchalant tone, "What was that? What were you right about?"

This time the reply was louder, but still barely audible as Ianto trembled slightly, "You don't want me anymore."

Jack stood, stunned, awash with emotions, speechless. A moment of silence stretched between them. What could he say, how could he possibly…

Ianto, always taking care of Jack, broke the nervous silence for him with a whispered, "I'm sorry Jack." and headed for the door.

Snapped from his stupor, Jack's arm shot out, making the distance between them that it had previously failed to attain. Ianto stopped with a small shuddering breath at Jack's touch. "How could you believe that?" Jack asked with perhaps a little more force than he had intended.

"How could I believe otherwise?" Ianto sighed. "Things are different… I understand."

Jack waited, but Ianto said nothing more. Taking a deep breath, Jack dove in feet first. He didn't know what to think, let alone what to say, but he'd be damned if he was going to let this go, let him go. "Yeah. Things are different. So what?" He blinked as the reality of his own statement hit him. _He's still Ianto_. Jack blinked again and gently turned Ianto to face him. There, in the downcast eyes, the small pouting downturn of the lips, the tiniest hitch in his breathing. Brilliant and insecure, strong and vulnerable, Timelord and Teaboy… Nothing had changed. Nothing important. He was still Ianto. Still his Ianto, if Jack could just be brave enough to claim him.

Jack's mind raced in turmoil. What did he want? There, before him was the same gorgeous, loving, loyal and utterly wonderful man. The same man who had stood by him, forgiven him, supported him. The same man who had accepted Jack's own past, his own failings and his own immortality with nothing but calm acceptance and reassuring love. Jack had been offered everything and had actually paused to consider what it all meant. Stupid Jack. Stupid, oblivious, ridiculous Jack.

How long he stood, his hand on Ianto's shoulder, Jack didn't know. He looked at the young man before him and noticed how his bottom lip had started to tremble, ever so slightly. Jack finally stopped thinking. Cupping Ianto's chin in the palm of his hand, Jack raised-up the downturned face and kissed that quivering lip. "You're still Ianto," he whispered into the kiss.

Jack could feel Ianto's arms immediately, yet hesitantly, wrap around his waist. Ianto leaned into the kiss. Jack couldn't help but smile as he felt Ianto's tongue press lightly, gently against his lips, hesitatingly asking for more. Without any hesitation at all, Jack opened his mouth and gently bent Ianto backwards, dipping him into the kiss.


	6. Unexpected

Chapter 6: Unexpected

The next morning, well, relatively speaking, Ianto was up and in the kitchen. He was in the mood for a full Welsh breakfast and had gotten up with exactly that intention, having left Jack soundly asleep and snoring in bed. Ianto smiled at the thought, two years on and Jack still claimed he did neither.

"Morning!" The Doctor grinned from the doorway where he stood in exceedingly wrinkled pyjamas.

"Morning. Coffee's ready." Ianto couldn't help but grin widely in return.

"I really am a tea-drinker," the Doctor told either Ianto or himself as he moved to the pot and poured himself a cup of coffee. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of its aroma.

"Yep. I can absolutely tell." Ianto moved to turn the bacon before emptying the toaster and adding yet more bread. He watched the Doctor take a sip and sigh deeply as he sat with his mug. "I can stop, you know. Making coffee. Make something else, if you'd prefer…"

"NO!" the Doctor's eyes shot open. He looked at the way Ianto stood, hands on his hips and already immaculately dressed, grinning back at him. The Doctor beamed, "Now stop that Ianto. I've got enough to put up with around here already. Speaking of whom, how is our Jack?"

Ianto supposed the Doctor had figured out that something had been wrong when they went to bed last night, but wasn't sure how much he'd guessed, or for that matter, how much he should say. "He's… sleeping."

"Hmmm." The Doctor took another long sip of coffee. "Not quite what I was asking."

"No, it wasn't, was it?" Ianto moved to retrieve the eggs.

"Might help to talk about it."

"Might." Ianto scrutinized the bacon with a small, contemplative frown, "I think…"

The Doctor waited while Ianto stared keenly at the sizzling pan. After a minute or three Ianto seemed to snap back and moved to fetch a serving plate. Only once the bacon was drained and the eggs were frying and the breakfast was almost ready, Ianto continued as if there had been no pause, "That Jack needed to see that I was… still me."

"Well who else would you be?" Jack stood, leaning in the doorway, and grinned at Ianto.

Ianto smiled back and turned to scoop the eggs onto the plate alongside the bacon, sausage, tomatoes, fried bread and mushrooms.

"You two. Already dressed at the breakfast table. This just isn't right." The Doctor went to get a second mug of coffee.

"Better watch that Doctor, Ianto's coffee is highly addictive," Jack slid behind Ianto, squeezing by him in a rather unnecessary fashion, given the size of the kitchen. Jack stopped to rest his hands on Ianto's hips and kiss his neck. "As is the man who brews it. Morning gorgeous."

"Good morning to you too, Jack." The doctor grinned at the two of them, glad that whatever had been the setback last night seemed to have worked itself out. The Doctor guessed it was one of two things. Either Jack was having problems with his young lover suddenly being another species (and a rather intimidatingly impressive species at that, if he did say so himself) or Ianto was having problems with suddenly becoming a different, highly impressive species, only to find that his immortal-fixed-point-in-time lover suddenly seemed… wrong.

For now, it seemed that whatever the problem was, it was willing to wait. The three of them sat down to Ianto's intimidatingly impressive breakfast and discussed things of no importance whatsoever.

* * *

The Doctor cornered Ianto later that day when Jack was busy working-out in the gym, "So, how does Jack feel to you, now that you're a Timelord?"

To his credit, while he did blush, Ianto remained calm and didn't stammer when he answered with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk, "How Jack _feels_ is none of your business, Doctor. You had your chance."

'Oh. Well. What? What?!?. No. That that ThatsnotwhatImeant." The Doctor stammered.

"Go find your own dashing hero to feel-up." Ianto glared at the Doctor for longer than he thought he could have managed before giving in and grinning widely.

"Oh! You!" The Doctor sputtered. "Just for that, now you _have_ to answer my question, you cheeky monkey, you."

"Jack feels…" Ianto paused and seriously considered the question. Then he realised he simply didn't know. He frowned. He thought. He frowned some more before settling on the least incorrect word for how it felt, "Different."

"Different."

"Different." Ianto wished someone would enter another word into the conversation, something… different. He took a deep breath and plowed on, "It's not like he's different from who he was… he's just different, from everyone else. I'm not explaining this very well."

"He doesn't feel… _wrong_?" The Doctor peered at Ianto and waited.

"Nothing about Jack has ever felt wrong. I mean he can be wrong. Like when we disagree about something… then he's clearly wrong. But no, he doesn't _feel_ wrong. He just feels like Jack." Ianto bit his lower lip, "That doesn't make any sense."

"Oh, it makes more sense than you know." The Doctor grinned so madly his face started to hurt, "And, best of all, it's just brilliant!"

* * *

"I'm just saying its funny, Jack. What with all your stories… and you go and have a panic attack at the realization that Ianto isn't human. That he has two hearts. Don't know about 'omnisexual.' Sounds just a touch xenophobic." The Doctor smiled to soften the suggestion. "You sure all those stories of yours are quite… accurate?"

"Ianto always seems to know what's real." Jack's smile flickered and faded into a slight grimace, "At least I hope he knows."

"I think Ianto would have run screaming by now, if he didn't have a pretty good grasp on your version of reality."

"I don't know what caused me to panic, really. Whether it was that Ianto wasn't what I expected him to be, or that he really is a Timelord."

"And what, exactly, have you ever _expected_ Ianto to be?"

Jack snickered. "I suppose you're right. At very first I expected Ianto to be… a conquest. When _I_ failed in that, I guess I expected him to be quietly efficient. Then I moved on to expect loyal, smart, devoted, caring, brilliant and… innovative. And Ianto delivered… big time. Now, I think I expect him to be… surprising."

"Well, I'd say Ianto is definitely full of surprises."

"You're telling me. Then, back to what you were saying earlier… so even now, as a Timelord, Ianto can't see me as fixed in time… as… wrong." Jack peered at the Doctor.

"Oh, I think he sees it, all right. It just doesn't bother him. As he says, 'It's just Jack.'"

"So, I'm not _wrong_." Jack looked up at the ceiling.

"Not to Ianto, you're not."

"But you left me."

"Look Jack, I'm sorry. Can we just let that go?"

"You said I was wrong, so wrong you couldn't physically stand to be near me. The Master. In that year. He said the same thing. So many times…"

"Well Jack. Okay. Me, I've gotten used to it, to you, to the way it feels to just be around you. The Master, well… what he did or didn't feel doesn't matter. And Ianto, Ianto doesn't feel that way about you at all."

"But why?"

"Does it matter?"

"It matters to me." Jack thought about it, "In fact, everything about Ianto matters to me."

"Is this about Ianto?" the Doctor studied Jack. "Or is it about you?"

"It's about… us. If I do feel _wrong_ to him, how long until that gets to be… too much? Until not even Ianto can stand it? Until he leaves me?"

"I'm not leaving you, Jack." Ianto stood in the doorway with a tray of coffees. "I've just trained you to put your dirty socks in the hamper. You think I'm getting rid of you now?"

"Ianto…" Jack whined slightly plaintively.

"Jack." Ianto put down the tray and folded his arms across his chest, making his serious face.

"I have a theory." The doctor pushed between them and continued brightly as he picked-up a mug, "When Ianto first met Jack, human or not, he would have been influenced by the time stream. I would assume, in fact, that Ianto has always been a little more conscious of time than most."

Jack grinned and Ianto offered a small shrug. Jack laughed, "Oh c'mon! You cannot deny it, that is so you! Mr. Ten-minutes-early-is-late."

"As I was saying!" The Doctor glared at Jack. 'Influenced by the time stream… He would have felt it, even if he didn't realize it or understand it as such. He would have felt that you were a fixed point, Jack, without knowing what that meant."

"So I should have always felt wrong to him?" Jack looked to Ianto for confirmation or denial.

"Actually, Jack, I'm surprised you didn't make him seriously ill. Just the sight of you." The Doctor rambled on, "You know, make him… ill."

"I didn't, did I?" Jack turned to Ianto, looking seriously unwell himself at that given moment.

"I remember feeling… nervous." Ianto smiled softly. "Butterflies, that sort of thing. But nothing… Nothing unpleasant."

"Hmmm." The Doctor looked at Ianto and considered whether or not the boy was just trying to be kind, or whether he really couldn't feel Jack as a temporal point displacement. "Well, in any case, I would hazard that since you first met Jack while you were human, you, shall we say, 'got used to him.'

"Oh thanks!" Jack smirked.

"Oh, you know what I mean. We all got used to you, Jack. Eventually." The Doctor's grin grew impossibly broad, "In any case, I think its good news for the two of you staying together. As long as you can keep putting those socks in the hamper, that is!"


	7. Ready

Chapter 7: Ready

Days passed leisurely as the Tardis bobbed and floated in the swirling eddies of the vortex. Time and experience flowed around her in the shimmering darkness. As she drifted dreamily she hummed peacefully to herself. It wasn't a tune or a song; so much as it was an awareness or perhaps even just an impression of an awareness. What she hummed was an emotion as old as the Universe, maybe even older. The feeling she was humming this afternoon was a kind of magenta contentment, almost, but not quite, bordering on fuchsia.

Ianto looked at the reflection that gazed back at him from the slightly oversized mirror on the rather oversized wall in the ridiculously oversized en-suite bath just off the perfectly cosy little bedroom he shared with Jack. He peered at his likeness, leaning closer and frowning slightly at the small clump of hair that wouldn't quite obey him and lay properly like all the others. He'd tried the gel that the Doctor had given him, but it only seemed to be making his hair misbehave all the more. Wouldn't that be just like the Doctor, to have given him sentient hair product? _Disobediently rebellious sentient product, at that_, he sighed. Maybe he'd ask if they could head somewhere… or somewhen… to a place where the Doctor knew a good stylist.

As he pondered the idea of a haircut, a thought struck Ianto. There they were, three men and a ship with the ability to go almost anywhere in time, and in relative dimensions in space, and all. So why, exactly, hadn't they actually gone anywhere? In all Jack's stories of traveling with the Doctor, none of the tales ever seemed to entail just hanging around… relaxing. Somehow, Ianto had always imagined that traveling with the Doctor would involve a whole lot more running. In fact, he had the sudden urge to do some running. Still, as he continued to glare tenaciously at his reflection in the mirror, Ianto considered that, with the whole of time and space open before them, it seemed odd to be just… floating. It was almost as if they were waiting for something.

"Well hellllo gorgeous!" Jack grinned as he emerged from their bedroom and sidled up to Ianto. Placing a hand on each of the young Timelord's hips, Jack pulled him close and just inhaled Ianto, all the while admiring the reflection of them standing together.

"I knew this mirror was a little too big." Ianto leant back and kissed Jack's cheek behind him. "It's _almost_ big enough to reflect your whole ego, in one go."

"Hey!" Jack tried for a hurt look, but it just came across as smug, "I was talking about _you_. Besides, I'm not vain."

"Nope. You're a model of modesty, if ever there was one."

"Yeah." Jack grinned and rubbed at an imaginary spot on his chin, turning it just so and making sure that the lights caught and highlighted his cleft-chin to its full advantage. "Just you remember that!"

"Of course, as there never actually was such a thing as a real, concrete 'model of modesty'…"

"Hey!"

"There was once an actual 'model of decorum'… in marble, I believe, but no… that's clearly not you either. Hmmm," Ianto continued to press down on his unruly patch of hair. "Model of efficency?" he looked at Jack's reflection behind him and simply raised an eyebrow, the one on the right.

"Ianto."

"How about a model citizen? Model home, model airplane, no… or even a model of a modern Major General…" Ianto, glancing again at Jack's reflection, saw the perplexed expression and decided it was time to soothe Jack's ego. Large as it was, Ianto had realized a long time ago that it was more fragile than Jack would ever let on. Ianto turned to face Jack and smiled thoughtfully, "No, not a model of modesty… maybe you'd be better as a model of… expensive underwear."

Jack's slightly pouting expression quickly changed to a beaming grin, his whole bearing straightening noticeably, "Really? I'd be good at that, wouldn't I? There was this planet once, where…" Jack looked at Ianto and his leering grin softened into an only slightly suggestive smirk. "Doesn't matter. Long time ago. But while we're on the subject, I could be convinced to model my underwear for you, now. If you'd like."

"Hmm. I dunno Jack. I've seen the current state of your underpants. Not the most attractive sight at the moment."

"Well, you know… I had other things on my mind. I wasn't really thinking about shopping, or doing the laundry, or underwear in general."

"I can tell. No one's been looking after you, have they Jack?" Ianto offered a very small, very gentle smile.

"Nope. Missed you."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Ianto, it's not like you were just ignoring me... You were…"

"Still, should have had a contingency plan. Something set up so if something happened…" Ianto's small smile bent down, frowning at the very corners.

"What? Like automatic underwear shipments?" Jack tried his best to lift Ianto's pouting smile again.

"Could have prevented your underpants getting to the state they're in now."

"Yeah, well. All things considered, I'd just prefer to keep you around."

"What? Me? In lieu of automated underpants shipments? Cool. I'll take that as a compliment." Half of Ianto's frowning smile shifted into a slight smirk.

"You have changed, IantoJones!" Jack hugged him closer, "Before… well, before, you never took _anything_ as a complement."

"Complements. I've never really known what to do with them. Besides, well, I was never put up in competition with something like automatic underpants shipments… before."

"Well that's what I get, I suppose, for walking in on a conversation without knocking…" The Doctor, standing in the far doorway, didn't know quite where to look. He settled on Ianto's hair. He squinted and frowned at the unruly bit that stuck out from all the others, going so far as to put on his glasses. "I'm not sure I want to know about these 'underpants deliveries.' Although, I must say, Jack, looks like you could do with just that!"

"I know! I'm sorry. Okay? I didn't have Ianto to look after me, so I let things go… downhill a bit." Jack slid behind Ianto further hiding the sad state of his limited clothing.

"Well, I'm back now. So I think we need to get this all sorted." Ianto tried one final time with the unruly curl of hair before giving up completely.

"So, I guess that means one thing." The Doctor smiled.

"I think it does." Ianto smiled in return.

"Only one thing for it." The Doctor beamed with a slight wiggle of his head.

"Oh definitely." Ianto beamed in return.

"What?" Jack had the decency to feel just a little afraid. "What's it mean?"

"SHOPPING!" Ianto and the Doctor wildly grinned at each other before turning to face Jack.

Jack fought the urge to laugh as the two of them gazed at him with twin expressions of delight. He instead joined them in the grinning. Then, with expert hands, Jack smoothed Ianto's hair back down to its usual manicured perfection. "It's got to be a Timelord thing." He sighed happily, "Looks like I'm outnumbered. I'll go get dressed."

With a quick kiss on Ianto's cheek and a pat on his other, Jack returned to the bedroom, finally allowing himself the laugh that had been building. The Doctor moved closer to Ianto before quietly confiding, "He missed you so much."

Ianto just smiled shyly, "I guess so."

"He needs you. Probably more than he'll ever even realize."

"As evidenced by the underpants."

"Ianto. I'm trying to be serious." The Doctor really did look sincere, "Jack needs you."

"That's okay. I need him. Just as much. Maybe even more. Works out rather nicely, I think." Ianto turned to face the Doctor and the earnest expression was immediately transformed to one of pure delight. "And now we've got each other, and I get to take him shopping!"

The Doctor's serious expression was immediately replaced with a maniacal grin of his own. "Oh we are going to have such fun, the three of us!" With that, the Doctor put both hands on the top of Ianto's head and mussed his hair with such wild abandon that not a single lock was left in it's original place. "There! Now you're ready." And with that, he left the bathroom with a flash of a wide smile and a whirl of brown overcoat.

Left alone once again, Ianto returned to his image in the slightly oversized mirror. His brown hair now stuck in all sorts of odd angles and was the exact opposite of the carefully cultivated look he had always maintained. He grinned, just a little, "Okay, that works too."

Just as he was about to follow Jack into the bedroom and help him choose what clothes to wear, Ianto turned back to his reflection for a moment. Looking at the likeness before him, Ianto wondered if at some point down the line he'd be required to choose a name for himself, something more… Timelordy. He shuddered at the thought of being referred to throughout all of time as 'The Teaboy.' He pursed his lips at the image, "Hello. Pleased to meet you. I'm The Teaboy, by the way… No, no, no, that's it, just 'The Teaboy.' Hello." Nope, that wouldn't do, not at all.

The Tardis hummed to herself. The awareness she was humming this time was a kind of affectionate satisfaction, clearly fuchsia now, just tinged with edges of warm orangey-gold. She felt for the three within, there was contentment there as well. Perhaps now they were ready.


	8. Worthy

Chapter 8: Worthy

The Doctor stepped into the control room and froze. It wasn't the sight of Jack leant casually up against the central column that made him pause. It wasn't even the fact that Jack was occupied with a thorough and complete snogging of Ianto Jones at the time. Well… to be fair, he had to admit that that all on its own the snogging would have been enough to arrest his attention… What made the Doctor stop and stare was the way, fully immersed as he was in Jack's attentions, Ianto was deftly working the Tardis controls with only his right hand and his eyes completely closed.

The Doctor's eyes flicked back to Ianto, whose left hand was currently carding through Jack's hair and holding him tight. The Doctor smiled, then frowned, then smiled again. He wasn't sure if he was proud, or jealous. Maybe both. Maybe more. On one hand it was true, he was clearly proud of the way that Ianto had taken to the decidedly complex vortex controls like the proverbial duck to water. But, on the other hand, he was also feeling disconcertingly envious of the way that Ianto seemed to navigate those controls with more ease than perhaps even the Doctor himself. Was Ianto simply that clever? Or was the Tardis choosing to make it easier for him? And then, on the third hand (if he still had it) if it was jealousy he was feeling, was it really over the relationship between the Tardis and Ianto? Or did it have to do with the hand currently weaving its way through Jack's hair? Furthermore, if that was the case, was it that there was a hand in Jack's hair, or was it the fact that it was in Jack's hair and not the Doctor's? The Doctor was definitely frowning now.

"Hey Doctor," Jack called without looking away from Ianto. "What do ya say we put off shopping for a while? I was thinking I'd like to take Ianto out to a nice dinner, instead. You know, a little dinner… a little dancing…"

"Dancing?" The Doctor actually felt himself blush at the thought. No. he was not imagining Jack and Ianto… dancing. And now he was decidedly not envisioning dancing with Ianto himself instead. Definitely not, just no. He snapped back with a jolt, "Umm… no. Sorry. Need to shop. Shopping is good. Besides, we're here now. No… definitely need to shop."

*****

The Doctor opened the doors and peered out. Not only had the landing been astoundingly smooth, they were perfectly positioned in an out-of-the-way, yet conveniently located, alley. The doors opened facing the street, and not the brick walls to either side. It fit so perfectly, there was only a small centimeter, or so, left on each of the blue box. The Doctor decided to settle on feeling definitely proud of the way Ianto had taken to the Tardis controls.

"Well, if I'm going to have to wait to take Ianto out to dinner, might as well buy him some pretty clothes to wear when we do get to go!" Jack bounced past the Doctor and out onto the street. "What do you think, Doctor? Suits or really tight jeans?"

"Some of each, I should think." The Doctor cast an appraising eye back at the young Timelord. "I haven't seen Ianto in jeans yet."

"I am right here, you know?" Ianto glared at them as he slid past the Doctor and wandered out into the street after Jack.

*****

Ianto had insisted that they attend, first and foremost, to the urgent situation regarding Jack's underpants. Once that was sorted, however, Jack had been equally adamant that their next undertaking involve Ianto, and a fitting room, and a towering stack of what he had referred to as 'amazingly sexy-hot threads.'

As they sat waiting, Ianto was in the fitting room working his way though Jack's clothing choices. Jack had asked The Doctor about his own experience with the chameleon arch. He had given it a valiant effort to change the subject without answering, but Jack had been persistent. If Ianto had endured it, Jack wanted to know about it. All about it.

In the end, Jack leaned back in his chair and scowled, "From what you said, you were so different as a human, from how you are… normally. Why doesn't Ianto seem to have changed all that much? I mean, apart from the grin… which I love, by the way. Will he change more?"

"You have to keep in mind, Jack, Ianto was a small child when he was made human, still just an infant, really. I'd have to think that most of what made him who he is, happened in his life after that point. He was human growing up and he'll probably always have that human… perspective. If he'd grown up on Gallifrey, Ianto would have been a very different man."

"I'm glad, then, that he didn't." Jack sighed. The thought of Ianto being, well… anything other than who he was, made Jack appreciate just how lucky he was to know him.

"Something else you need to understand, Jack. Growing up human, on Earth, that means Ianto really is actually only 26 years old, in linear time. On Gallifrey, the legal age of consent..." The Doctor looked at Jack disapprovingly. "Well, let's just say that in Timelord terms, you really are bringing new meaning to the phrase 'robbing the cradle.'"

Jack beamed. "Hah! I knew that my criminal past would pay off at some point."

"Just look after him, Jack. He really is just a kid."

"A really hot and sexy kid."

"True. But be that as it may…"

"Doctor."

"I didn't just say that."

"Yes you did."

"Well, I didn't mean it then."

"Yes. You. Did."

"Yes, well, what?"

"What?"

"What?!?"

"Stop that, Doctor."

"What?"

"Stay away from him."

"What?"

"Stay away from Ianto, Doctor. He's mine."

"What?" Ianto stood in the doorway with a stack of too-tight jeans and a handful of just-right snug ones.

"Ianto…" Jack blushed visibly, "Uh, hi! I erm, didn't mean that I… that you… um… hi!"

"What exactly _did_ you mean by, 'He's mine'?" Ianto's expression was unreadable.

"Well, just that that that… you know." Jack stammered.

"That I _belong_ to you."

"Ummmm." Jack looked imploringly at the Doctor, who was clearly loving the whole scene as well as the fact as he was apparently off the hook from his earlier slip.

"So, is it logical to conclude that in turn, _you_ belong to _me_?" Ianto looked less than impressed.

"Ummmm, yes?" Jack tried to put on his trademark 5,000 watt grin but only managed a dim 15watts.

"Oh." Ianto took a deep breath. "Okay by me, then. So, anyone ready for some lunch?" Ianto gave Jack a quick kiss and turning on his heel headed for the till with his clothing selections.

"Oh! You so do not deserve that boy, Jack Harkness!" The Doctor turned and followed Ianto.

"You don't think I know that?" Jack told the empty dressing room before following as well.

*****

After a quick stop at the Tardis to drop off snug jeans and underpants, the trio headed out again to find some lunch. Jack and the Doctor debated the merits of several places near by, just on the edge of a bustling street market. Jack peered at a menu posted on the wall, "Nothing too alien. Ianto's still new to the different planet thing… plus there's the whole 'in the future' different century thing."

The Doctor had moved to the next restaurant's menu already, "True, but nothing too safe-and-boring either, as Ianto is exercising his newfound adventurous side as well."

"But you should keep in mind, that Ianto's not a child and has an opinion of his own," Ianto called back from a menu board on the other side of the street.

Jack and the Doctor went to look at the menu Ianto was currently perusing. They glanced at each other and shook their heads; leave it to Ianto to find the one perfect place on the entire planet. The restaurant was designed after a proper British pub, but with local ingredients worked into the menu. Jack couldn't help but pull Ianto into a hug, "Looks good to me."

As they turned to confirm the choice with the Doctor, Jack noticed both Ianto and the Doctor turn to look at a furry blue biped that lumbered down the middle of the street behind them. As the creature disappeared around a bend in the road and into the crowds, both of the Timelords took a hesitant half-step in pursuit.

Jack's brow furrowed as he glanced again at Ianto and the Doctor. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn they were telepathically linked in a mental conversation. As it was, an entire debate seemed to ensue solely with the use of slightly raised eyebrows. In the space of a few moments they seemed to reach a mutual conclusion.

"Right." Ianto nodded.

"Allons-y I-aan-to." The Doctor tried with a grin.

Ianto's frown bordered on a pout, "Um, No. Don't do that. Please. Never again."

"Oh. Okay."

The Doctor had barely flexed his hand before he found Ianto holding it firmly. He looked at the smooth long fingers clasping his own before glancing back up at Ianto's face. Ianto's eyes flickered to a look of clear indecision before he turned them away and the Doctor felt the grip loosen. He wasn't sure, but thought he heard a whispered, "I'm sorry…"

The Doctor renewed his hold on Ianto's hand before it could quite slip away, "For what? It's perfectly alright. In fact, I'd go so far as to say perfectly… perfect."

Ianto's eyebrow quirked upwards ever so slightly, but at least the shadow of indecision had vanished. The Doctor smiled warmly at him and Ianto smiled wryly in return, "It's getting away."

"What? Oh. Right. Best get to the running, then."

As the Doctor turned to follow the creature into the crowded marketplace he tightened his grasp on Ianto's hand ever so slightly possessively. As they moved quickly into the mass of swirling commerce, Ianto in turn reached back to grab Jack's hand with his other, towing him behind in their wake.

Ianto glanced back at Jack's pleased expression, "Did I miss something, what's so amusing?"

"You two. Being here. This." Jack panted slightly, "I love this!"

"What?" Ianto, tethered between Jack and the Doctor twisted to avoid being run into a pole.

"Watching the two of you… it's better than a Trixellian comedy." Jack ducked to avoid a particularly low sign advertising buy one get one free on something that looked like a cross between a cricket bat and a leek.

"Trixellians were never known for their comedy." Ianto was forced to let go of Jack's hand for just a moment to avoid clothes-lining a rather Roswellian-looking man with arms full of brightly coloured packages.

Jack quickened his pace as he maneuvered around the little green-grey guy and had to smile when he felt Ianto grasp his hand tightly again. "Wait… what did you just say?"

"Trixellians," Ianto jumped-up slightly, trying to look over the crowds of shoppers to catch sight of the one they were pursuing. "In fact, if anything, they're known for the invention of some rather unusually 'adult' sports. But I suppose you'd know that, wouldn't you Jack?"

"I'm still getting over the fact that you know what a Trixellian is… The old Ianto, he had to ask me about things like that."

"I've learned better than to ask you about 'things like that.' You always come back with a… story."

"Well, now you mention it, there was this time…"

"Don't want to hear about it."

"But-"

"Jack. Stop." Ianto dodged a pair of elderly ladies arm-in-arm in the middle of the walkway. He let go of the Doctor's hand and stopped running. There, stood in the heart of the surging crowd, Ianto stopped and stared pointedly into Jack's eyes. "I know you've done a lot of things… with a lot of people, Jack. I understand. Really. Now there is something I'd like _you_ to understand… I don't want to know the details. Okay?"

Jack started to smile, but the melancholy deep in the eyes before him brought him to a complete stand-still, "You really mean that, don't you?" Ianto's eyes cast down to the ground between their feet, and he frowned ever so slightly. Jack closed his eyes and cursed his own brazen lack of sensitivity. "Ianto, I…"

The Doctor appeared from out of the throng, "What happened? I turned around and you two were just gone." He looked between Jack and Ianto, "Oh. I, um… hmmm."

"Ianto," Jack had taken a the time afforded by the Doctor's interruption to take a deep breath and recognize just how all his cavalier comments would affect a man like Ianto. In his brief epiphany, in the middle of an off-world marketplace in the 32nd century, Jack Harkness came to the sudden realisation that the shy and self-deprecating, quiet and reserved, introverted and modest man before him might just be the last person in all of time and space to want to hear about his many and varied prior sexual exploits. In short, Jack finally understood what a complete twat he really could be and wondered why Ianto ever put up with him. "Ianto, I'm sorry."

Ianto stood and bit his lower lip until it threatened to bleed. It wasn't his intention to change Jack, but he really had never been fond of listening to certain of Jack's remembrances. The thought of living centuries with Jack made him feel giddy; the thought of centuries of stories of Jack with other people made him feel faint. Still staring at where his feet met the sidewalk, Ianto tried to smile reassuringly and said simply, "It's okay. Doesn't matter."

Jack placed his hand under Ianto's chin and ducked his head down to make eye contact, "It's not okay. Does matter." He waited until Ianto looked at him before continuing, "To tell you the truth… I've never actually been to Trixellia, never played their sports… and I don't particularly feel the need to at _any_ time in the future."

Jack had Ianto's attention now, and was going to do anything and everything in his power to keep it. He cupped Ianto's cheek in one hand while softly running his thumb over that worried lower lip. Jack captured Ianto's hand in his other and held it gently, "I've done a lot of things, Ianto. Things I thought I was actually proud of for some reason... Proud enough to boast, anyway. Then I met you. Now, now those things seem… pointless. And I'm not proud anymore. And well, all things considered, I'd give it all up for you. In fact, any time I fall back on that thing I do, mentioning those things, I want you to just haul-off and give me a smack, okay? Ianto?"

"You were whittering there, Jack. Did you realise?" Ianto smiled slightly as he gazed into Jack's eyes.

"Yeah, I guess I was. I tend to say stupid stuff sometimes." Jack smiled hopefully back.

"Only sometimes?"

"Yeah… Hey!" Jack smirked warmly now, "But I mean it, Ianto… I just want you to be happy. Tell me when something I'm doing, or not doing for that matter, is making you unhappy. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay." The Doctor pushed between them. "Before you two start snogging again, can I just say one thing?"

"Hmm?" Ianto and Jack continued to smile at each other.

"The Avaninite… the blue furry creature, it's getting away." The Doctor said plainly. "And let me just say that if it does… Welllllll that just wouldn't be good. Not at all."


	9. Capable

Chapter 9: Capable

As they ran through the market, Jack couldn't help but laugh as he watched the conversation continue unabated between Ianto and the Doctor. They called back and forth to each other about the window displays, the merchandise and the signs advertising 2 for 1 sales. Shopping talk on the run.

How the Doctor was still following the Avaninite through the crowded streets, Jack had no idea. That they were still on the right trail, Jack had no doubt. He was about to ask just what was so dangerous about this particular alien when the Doctor did what could best be described as a leaping spin. As the Doctor landed with a grin and continued on in the original direction he called to Ianto, "Oh! Remember that stall! Can you remember that stall?"

"Why? Was there something important? Something about the Avaninite?" Ianto glanced back at the shop.

"No. They had a pair of Converse in the most incredible shade of purple!"

"Purple?"

"Well, I say purple… amethyst, really."

"Purple shoes, really?"

"Yes! Brilliant!"

"Not for with the brown pinstripe, surely?" Ianto swerved to avoid a rather awkwardly placed cart of fruit.

"Well, no… maybe not."

"For what, then? When could you possibly ever need purple trainers?"

"Welllllll, you never know. Could come in handy at some point."

"Hmm, if you say so." Ianto glanced over his shoulder, "Keeping up, Jack?"

"Yeah." Jack huffed slightly, "What is it with you people and all the running?"

"We could slow down, if you needed." The Doctor called back.

"No. I'm keeping up fine." Jack smiled as Ianto flashed a quick grin at him after narrowly dodging a cart of what appeared to be grapes the size of rugby balls. "Besides, I'm just admiring the view from back here."

"Hey! Did you see that?" Ianto exclaimed. "That shop had a sign advertising automatic underpants shipments."

"What? Where? Really?" Jack spun, looking, and was so distracted he almost collided with a large ill-placed brick wall.

"No, not really." Ianto shook his head and briefly mentally debated suggesting to Jack that gullible wasn't a word in the dictionary.

"I almost crashed!" Jack pouted.

"Yes. Well, that'll teach you, Jack. Keep you're eye on where you're going, and not on my arse."

"And who says they aren't the same destination?"

*****

It seemed, to Jack at least, that they had been chasing the furry creature for hours. He wasn't sure if he was more amazed at the stamina of all those involved or at the sheer size of the marketplace. Jack blinked, unable to believe what he'd just seen. There it was again, a subtle surreptitious move by Ianto as he passed a market cart. He had… Ianto had nicked something.

There! Another. As they moved through the maze of storefronts, Ianto Jones was snagging items as they went. Jack was unsure whether he should frown, or laugh.

"Jack!" Ianto called back, "Left, left, right then left. Cut him off!" Jack hesitated only an instant before veering off and taking the next left.

He had begun to doubt either Ianto's directions, or his own memory recall of them, when Jack reached the final left and there was no sign of either the two Timelords or their objective. He stood panting, leaning heavily against the wall and scanned the crowds around him. Jack hadn't realised just how exhausted he was until he stopped running.

He stood there a moment and waited. They would come this way, Jack was sure. He had faith in Ianto. Ianto. Jack frowned. Ianto stealing, and for no good its-to-save-the-planet-so-its-justified reason? Had he changed more than Jack had thought? Or was this who Ianto had always been? He knew about the arrest, but it was when Ianto was just a kid. That wasn't the Ianto Jack knew, or was it?

Jack looked-up and came face to face with the snarling teeth and drooling roar of a furry blue Avaninite. _One in need of a proper dentist_, Jack thought with a grimace.

Seeing it's path blocked by a startled looking Jack Harkness, the creature turned back the way it had come, still at a full out sprint. Jack sighed and took off after it once more.

*****

Ianto grasped the Doctor's shoulder and pulled him backwards. At the same time he tossed a small device a metre in front of the Avaninite as it bore down on them. The creature was immediately enveloped in a glowing crimson aura and was held frozen in place. It drooled and snapped at them as it floated a foot off the ground, cocooned securely and unharmed in a glowing energy field.

Ianto immediately pulled a small red mobile from his waistcoat pocket and set about contacting the local authorities.

"Amazing. Oh you are good!" the Doctor chortled. "You are so very good!"

Ianto smiled shyly and hanging up his phone looked away, "It wasn't difficult…"

The Doctor grasped Ianto's head in both hands and forced the young Timelord to meet his gaze, "No. It _was_ difficult. But you did it _anyway_. And without killing anything. You are brilliant!"

Ianto tried looking away again, a small frown tugging at his lips, but the Doctor wouldn't allow it. Without thinking, the Doctor pulled Ianto forwards and kissed him firmly and fully on the lips.


	10. Spoken For

Chapter 10: Unobtainable

A moment passed and became a minute. The minute stretched. Slowly the Doctor pulled back from Ianto's lips and he dared to open his eyes to regard the young man he held in his arms, 'Oh… Damn.'

Ianto's entire body was stiff and his shoulders were tensed up almost to his ears. His eyes were wide and full of shock and perhaps a touch of fear. Ianto said nothing, just stood breathing quick and shallow, before he quickly looked down and away to the ground.

"Hey guys did I miss anything?" Jack approached full force and skidded to a stop with a grin. His eyes flicked between the two Timelords. The grin faded quickly. "What did I miss?"

The Doctor dropped his hands from Ianto's shoulders, opened his mouth and turned to Jack. Closing his mouth he turned back to look at Ianto again.

Ianto straightened his shoulders and then straightened his tie. Smoothing the features of his face, he turned to face Jack. A small, tight smile forced its way onto his lips as Ianto made deliberate eye contact, "Jack. We were able to contain the Avaninite. The authorities have been notified and are on their way."

"Yeah, but what did I miss?" Jack's voice was dangerously deep. His glare was directed at the Doctor. Once he turned to look at Ianto instead, Ianto immediately turned his gaze back to the ground. Jack tried again, almost a growl, "Doctor?"

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, "Um, well… you see… we… well, that is to say, I-"

"I… I'm sorry!" Ianto stammered before disappearing back into the market crowd.

"Ianto!" Jack yelled after him. He whipped around and growled, "Doctor. What is he sorry for?"

"Nothing Jack. Ianto didn't do anything."

"What did _you_ do?"

"I uh…" The Doctor couldn't help but consider just how long it had been since he'd last needed to regenerate, "Well, it would seem that I kissed Ianto."

"What?"

"I wasn't thinking Jack."

*****

It took more than an hour for Jack to finally track down Ianto in the vast marketplace. When he finally located him, Ianto wasn't shopping or wandering or browsing. In fact, to Jack it looked like Ianto was doing nothing so much as hiding.

Ianto sat on a low stone bench, under a tree, in the shadow of a building, trying very hard to go unnoticed by the throngs of people around him. He sat, elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, wishing for all the world that he was somewhere else, or was it someone else?

Jack let out a deep sigh and stepped forwards, "Where were you, Ianto? I was worried." Jack resisted the urge to grasp Ianto and hold him tight. Instead, Jack sat down beside him. "Where have you been?"

"I had to go back. Pay for the items I… needed for the containment device." Ianto's head was down, but his eyes flickered up to glance at Jack, searching. "Didn't have time before, when we were chasing the Avaninite."

Jack couldn't help but grin, "My criminal mastermind, a master thief. You are amazing." He noted the way Ianto's eyes dropped away from him again. "What?"

"You're cross with me." Ianto said quietly.

"No I'm not. Why would I be cross?" Jack laughed, "Trust me, the things I've stolen… and you, _you_ went back and paid for them. That is so you, Ianto."

"That's not what I'm talking about."

"Then what?" Jack knew full well, but any delay in needing to respond was welcome.

"The Doctor." It was little more than a whisper.

"Oh. That."

"That." Ianto looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Why should that make me angry?"

"I would have been angry, if I'd come by and seen you and him…" Ianto lost the battle and Jack could see the tear start to roll down his cheek.

"Ya know what I saw?" Jack rubbed the tear away with his thumb, "I saw the Doctor kiss you. And what else I saw… was that you clearly didn't kiss him back."

"Jack."

"Ianto."

"Jack… You're not even a bit upset?" Ianto's brow furrowed and there was a sight pout on his lips.

"Ianto, do you want to know what I saw, really?" Jack made sure to catch Ianto's eye and held it as he continued, "I saw the Doctor kiss you… and I saw you look like you'd just been kissed by… by Gwen. Or… Owen."

"Owen wasn't all that bad," Ianto smiled slightly.

"Wait." Jack narrowed his eyes, "You've kissed Owen? When was this?"

"Long time ago. A lifetime ago."

"Was it while we were together?" Jack's eyes narrowed even further, "Where was I?"

"The Doctor." Ianto still sat, his elbows on his knees, and looked at the ground. "Travelling."

"Oh," Jack looked down as well.

"After you left, once we realised you weren't coming right back," Ianto paused. "I kind of went into melt-down one night. I… broke a few things, in the Hub. Owen was there. He tried to stop me, but I was a little… upset. And more than a little drunk."

"So Owen kissed you?"

"He said it was the only thing he could think to do to stop me from destroying the place."

"Likely excuse." Jack smirked, "More likely he saw it as his only opportunity to try and snog his co-worker."

"Well, it wasn't his only opportunity…" Ianto smiled shyly.

"Ianto…?"

"There was also the Himalayas…"

"Care to elaborate?"

"It was cold."

"That's not much in the way of an elaboration, Ianto."

"You were still gone." Ianto said simply. "Owen said you weren't coming back to me. Everyone said you weren't coming back to me."

"Did I ever say I was sorry?" Jack glanced sideways at Ianto. "I _am _sorry."

"Why? Because Owen kissed me while you were gone?"

"Yes. No. Well, that too. I'm sorry because I hurt you. I never meant to… I never want to hurt you, Ianto." Jack placed a hand on Ianto's back and rubbed lightly, pausing only to add with a small smirk, "And because Owen kissed you… twice."

"Once," Ianto leant back into Jack's hand.

"You said…"

"I said he had the _opportunity_. Didn't say I let him. I was freezing that time, _not_ drunk."

"So if I want to keep you, I've got to keep you sober. Is that it?" Jack grinned. "But you're so much fun drunk."

"If you want to keep me," Ianto met his gaze. "You have to stick around."

"I can do that." He kissed Ianto softly, "I _will _do that."

"I'd like that." Ianto smiled into Jack's kiss. Then he pulled back slightly, a serious frown darkening his appearance, "Is the Doctor upset with me?"

"Upset with you?" Jack snorted, "Why would _he_ be upset with _you_?"

"I don't know. It just seems that he should be. I feel like I've done something… wrong." Ianto pouted vaguely, "Because I didn't kiss him back."

"He wishes that you had kissed him back. But I think he also wishes he hadn't kissed you in the first place."

"He didn't mean it." Ianto nodded, "I understand."

"Oh he meant it, alright. Just as I meant it when I knocked him on his ass." Jack smiled and shrugged.

"You didn't." Ianto's jaw hung open.

"I did." Jack put an arm around Ianto and finally pulled him in tight, "We've already established that you're mine. Nobody kisses what's mine. Not even the Doctor."

"So, does that mean we're stranded here now?" Ianto rested his head on Jack's shoulder.

"Would you be upset?"

"I wouldn't be happy." Ianto frowned, "Big as this market is, it really isn't going to hold my interest forever."

Jack laughed, "But would you be upset?"

"I'd miss the Tardis… and the Doctor. He was showing me how to be a Timelord."

"But would you be upset?"

"I'd still have you?"

"Yep."

"Then I suppose I could survive..." Ianto kissed Jack's cheek, "…Marginally."

"But. Would. You. Be. Upset?" Jack dominated Ianto's gaze.

"No." Ianto smiled. The smile waivered slightly, "But what about you, Jack? Are you upset… Loosing the Doctor…?"

"I'd give up anything for you. But I haven't lost him. Neither have you." Jack kissed Ianto lightly. "He's waiting back at the Tardis with a slightly swollen lip, worried that he's scarred you for life and that you'll never forgive him."

Ianto just smiled and looked away, "You really knocked the Doctor on his arse… over me?"

*****

_He's hiding from you, Ianto. _The Tardis buzzed its displeasure.

"I should go and find him," Ianto replied with a small sigh.

_Make him wait. Make him worry. He deserves it._

"That's not very nice. Besides, I'm sure he's sorry. He didn't mean to do anything."

_Sorry or not… He shouldn't have acted… I haven't._

"What?"

_Nothing. Where's Jack? Are we leaving soon?_

"Jack said there was just a bit more shopping he needed to do. He'll be back soon, then we can go." Ianto ran his fingertips over the console monitor, "Do we know where we're going next?"

The Tardis sent a vibration rattling through her corridors, _He'll probably leave it up to you. Like an apology. He's not good at apologies._

"I have an idea where I'd like to go, but I don't think the Doctor'll approve." Ianto scratched his fingernail at a small spot.

_He won't tell you no, Ianto. He wants to make you happy._

"I don't know. I think he might _have_ to say no."

_Then ask me._

"I'll tell you, but when this has all settled down and he knows that I'm not upset with him. Then I'll still have to ask him."

_If you just ask me, I could take you._

"Thanks. But I wouldn't do that. To either of you." Ianto leant against the jump seat and stretched aching back muscles, "I like both of you too much to come between you."

_Will you just tell me where it is you want to go?_

"After I ask the Doctor." Ianto sighed, and headed for his bedroom, "Besides, I still have to think it through. I'm not even sure yet… if it's even possible, really."

The Tardis massaged the corners of Ianto's mind and touched the ideas he wouldn't express. She didn't read his thoughts, she wouldn't do that without Ianto's permission. But she would read his emotions, and she quivered at the experience. Oh how Ianto wanted this. She would do whatever she could to give it to him. Whatever she could.

*****

"But you're a Timelord."

"Yes. I am. I still don't see what that has to do with anything, Cariad."

"It's just… it's just…"

"What Jack?"

"It's just… you're a Timelord. Youshouldn'tbedoingmylaundry."

"Ah."

"Ah?"

"Yep. Ah."

"Is that all you have to say?"

"What else should I be saying?"

"Well… I don't know, Ianto. Something."

"Okay. But I'm not sure what you're expecting me to say. I've always done your laundry. I don't mind doing your laundry. I really don't see the problem."

"But you're a Timelord!"

"Yes and before, it was okay then, back when I was…" Ianto was truly perplexed. "What was it Jack, that I was just a mortal human, or just your _employee_? What made it okay back then for me to do your laundry that is so different now?"

"I… you… uhhh…"

"Well that certainly clears things up, now doesn't it?"

"Ianto."

"Jack."

Jack just sighed and slowly beat his head against the Tardis' laundry room wall.

"I am a Timelord, Jack. I was human for a while. Okay. Fine. Whatever I _am_, I still want to look after you, to take care of you. Let me do that, okay? It makes me happy, looking after you." Ianto quirked an eyebrow, "Besides, we've seen what happens when you're left to look after yourself."

"But you shouldn't have to do that…" Jack whined in the tone that made Ianto realize it would be his final protest on the matter.

"I don't _have_ to do it at all, Jack." Ianto smiled, "I want to do it." The smile eased into a smirk edged with suggestion, "Don't make me beg…"

Jack grinned, in spite of himself, "Oh, but Ianto, you know how much I love it when you beg. Especially-"

"Especially then, yes. So wouldn't it be better to save up my begging for especially… then? I _will_ continue to look after you Jack, including doing your laundry, because you need me and because it pleases me to do it."

"Not gonna budge on that, huh?" Jack looked at Ianto's firm stance, his crossed arms and his slightly bemused frown. _Definitely not going to win against that look, Harkness_. Jack relented, "Okay, but I'm gonna figure out some things I can do for you."

Ianto smiled quirked the eyebrow that had Jack grinning broadly in response. He slid slightly closer and allowed Jack to put his arms around him, "Besides, technically, I'm not even doing the laundry, just pressing your new shirts after you left them all wadded-up in the carry-bag." Ianto smirked and kissed Jack on the side of his mouth before turning back and resuming his ironing.

The Tardis hummed in agreement.


	11. Patient

Chapter 11: Patient

Eventually Jack found the Doctor. He was in a section of the Tardis that seemed somewhat unused and more than a little dusty. If Jack didn't know the Doctor as well as he at least thought he did, he would have sworn that the Timelord was hiding.

"So, Doctor…" Jack came to the realization that he really didn't know what he even wanted to say, let alone how to say it.

"Hullo, Jack." The Doctor tried a reassuring grin, but it came out really rather wobbly. "Did you find Ianto okay?"

"Yeah." Jack moved slowly to where the Doctor sat and watched him fiddle with some wires for a moment or two.

"He's… is he okay? Is everything all right?" The wobbly grin faltered.

"Ianto's gonna be okay. But I'm not sure about everything being all right."

"Does he know… that is to say, does he understand? Or more so, and really to the point, is there a chance that, all things considered…"

"No, Doctor. Probably not."

"Oh. Well. I see."

"What were you thinking?" Jack asked with rather more emotion than he had intended.

"I'm not sure I was. Thinking, that is." The Doctor frowned. "Maybe I thought that Ianto…"

"That Ianto what?"

"That… I really don't know, Jack."

"Did you think that you could kiss him and what, steal him away from me?" Jack's voice seemed a touch higher than usual.

"Honestly, Jack, I wasn't thinking about you in the least." The Doctor glanced up and after a moment added, "Oh. Sorry."

"Yeah. Whatever. I've moved on, Doctor. I've moved on to Ianto. And I'm feeling the need to make this clear… I'm not going anywhere."

"Doesn't matter."

"Are you challenging me?" Jack glared, his voice now considerably lower than usual.

"What? No." The Doctor had to smile at Jack's possessive tone and how it contrasted with the usual flirtation that was now decidedly absent. "What I'm saying, Jack, is that when I kissed him, I could tell that… whatever this is I'm feeling for Ianto, and I'm still not sure what it is that I am feeling, whatever it is… Ianto doesn't feel the same for me."

"Damn right he doesn't." Jack huffed, crossing his arms defiantly.

"There was just something…off, about the whole… thing." The Doctor looked at the jumble of wires in his hand pensively.

Jack stared angrily, "If there was anything _off_, Doctor, I can assure you it wasn't Ianto's fault. Ianto is one hell of a kisser. It must've been you."

"Oh don't take it like that, Jack. I'm not insulting your boyfriend. Quite the opposite, really."

"Let me guess, it wasn't him, it was you?"

"Actually, I think that's it, well, pretty much it, at least." The Doctor dropped the handful of wire back into the hole through which they were protruding. "The more I think about it, the more I come to realise, what I feel for Ianto, or at least what I think I feel, or felt, isn't what I thought it was. I think… well, to be honest, I think that I think… that… I love him."

Jack felt a flash of heat and started to react but had managed little more than a low-pitched growl before the Doctor continued, "But not in the way you love him."

*****

"Like a son?" Ianto stopped re-adjusting the thermal interchange and integration conduit and glanced over his shoulder at Jack.

"That's what he said." Jack moved behind him and wrapped his arms around Ianto's waist.

"Somehow I don't think they kissed their children like that on Gallifrey." Ianto leant back into Jack's chest and closed his eyes.

"No, I don't think they did. Are you okay with this?"

"What, you distracting me from my work, holding me like this?" Ianto smiled, "Yep. Always."

"No. But I'm glad you like it," Jack rested his chin on Ianto's shoulder. "I meant with what happened. With the Doctor. Still travelling with him."

"As long as he doesn't kiss me again. It was kind of… disturbing." Ianto breathed deeply, appreciating the tingle of Jack's pheromones on his newly discriminating senses. "Besides, the Doctor… like a father… that isn't our relationship… it just doesn't seem right to me."

"So how does it seem," Jack tried to keep the insecurity he felt from colouring his tone. "To you?"

Ianto briefly considered toying with Jack, teasing him as Jack had so ruthlessly teased him early on in their own relationship. Instead he just smiled at his lover's insecurity and remembered his own historic feelings of unworthyness. "The Doctor and I…"

"Yes?" Jack leaned further into Ianto.

"He and I… we… our relationship…" Ianto's features creased in contemplation with just a touch of puzzlement.

"Yes?" Jack's features creased in concern and a residual touch of anxious jealousy.

"It's…" Ianto frowned, then grinned, "I know! He's like my crazy uncle."

Jack reflected on that for a moment before letting out a barking laugh, "The one all the kids in the family love best and all the adults just have to put-up with?"

"Yep. That's the one." Ianto's wide grin twitched and faded as he turned in Jack's embrace to make eye contact, "Promise me you won't tell him I said that. I don't think he'd appreciate the comparison."

"It'll be out little secret." Jack couldn't resist the small pout on Ianto's lips and stole a quick kiss.

"As far as we're all concerned, he can officially be 'like a father' to me." Ianto started to face forwards again, but turned back and stole a kiss of his own. "My adoptive Timelord dad. He'll be my third."

"Uh-huh." Jack had gotten distracted running his fingers through Ianto's hair. "What?"

"I said, he'll be my third. Pay attention, Jack."

"I was paying attention… just not to what you were saying at that particular moment. You have such soft hair." Jack kissed Ianto's ear, "…And soft skin… Wait… The Doctor will be you're third what?"

"Father." Ianto sighed, not sure if it was at repeating himself or at Jack's caress.

"Wait, he's not really?" Jack pulled back suddenly and stared intently at Ianto. "You're not…"

"What? His son?" Ianto reached back and pulled Jack close again, "Nope. C'mon Jack, we've been over this. You really are easily distracted. Crazy uncle, remember? Besides, as far as we've been able to work out, the Doctor had never even _met_ my parents. From a different part of the city and everything."

"Your real father never made his suits or anything?"

"Oh, hell no!" Ianto turned and glared at Jack with an insulted frown, "Jack. You see the suits the Doctor wears, how could you even suggest…?"

"Sorry!" Jack laughed and held his hands up in mock surrender, "Besides, maybe since then, after the Time War, the Doctor had to resort to other tailors… lesser, minor, inferior tailors, to make his current wardrobe?"

"Better." Ianto gazed at Jack appraisingly before smiling and pulling him back into an embrace of his own. "You're learning."

"I'm a star pupil. Well, for you I am. You're worth the effort, you know." Jack grinned widely, "Did I ever tell you that?"

"Hmm, maybe. But even if you have, not often enough," Ianto drew Jack into a kiss. "Not nearly often enough."

*****

"Ianto?"

"Doctor."

"I think there're probably some things we should discuss."

"Probably." Ianto turned his attention from the coffee machine and to the Doctor. With a politely neutral expression, he waited.

The Doctor, for his part, stood in the doorway to the kitchen. His hands were deep in his pockets and he looked rather lost. Or he rather, he looked like he'd prefer to be lost than standing there, thinking how best to begin. "So…"

"So." Ianto offered him a small smile.

"So." The Doctor offered a grin in return.

"Coffee?" Ianto winked.

"Oh! That would be brilliant!" The Doctor fairly danced to the table and sat, gazing up at Ianto with joyful appreciation.

As Ianto placed the steaming mug in front of the Doctor he heard the Tardis hum, _You're letting him off too easy. He doesn't deserve your coffee._

"Oi!" The Doctor pouted, "Whose side are you on, anyway?"

_His. _

"Oh. Well as long as we're all clear on the matter of allegiance…" The Doctor's eyebrows knit together, "Hey, wait a minute! Ianto, are you giving the Tardis coffee?"

"She said she didn't really like the tea." Ianto had retrieved his own coffee and moved to join the Doctor at the table, "Why? Is it a problem?"

"Only if I _ever_ expect her to listen to me, ever again." The Doctor glared at the vaulted ceiling above them.

"Why? Did she ever listen to you before?"

The Doctor turned to look at the young Timelord across the kitchen table from him. Ianto almost hid the most devilishly innocent expression behind his mug as he slowly sipped his coffee. The Doctor couldn't resist grinning all the wider for it.

*****

_You didn't ask him to take you where you wanted to go. _The Tardis vibrated softly.

"It wasn't the right time." Ianto re-calibrated the anti-inertial siphon vortex field resonators.

_So, just when would the right time be? Because you're right, it clearly wasn't the right time when he turned to you and asked, 'So, where do you want to go next, Ianto?'_

"He might've felt like he… owed me something. I couldn't. Not yet." Ianto wiped the finally perfectly calibrated resonators with a soft cloth.

_So until the 'right time' you're just going to float around, drawn to whatever danger calls for you?_

"We're two Timelords and an immortal in a sentient time ship. What else are we supposed to do?" Ianto achieved a satisfactory shine on the resonators and folded the cloth neatly.

_You're a wonderful, sharp, sweet and charming 25 year old boy with a handsome partner and an infatuated Timelord mentor in a time ship that wants to see you happy… You're supposed to enjoy._

"I am enjoying this. Really." Ianto frowned.

"And just who are you trying to convince?" Jack sauntered into the control room. "Because you don't look like you've even convinced yourself."

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Ianto pouted.

"Ya don't really give off the whole 'happy' vibe there, Ianto. More of a… I dunno, morose? Miserable, maybe?"

"I'm fine. Really." Ianto smiled compellingly. "See?"

"Well, I'm not convinced." The Doctor had appeared behind Jack in a rather disconcertingly magician-like sort of way. "I'd say you look a bit… melancholy?"

"Well, as apparently I don't know my own mind, I'm glad to see that at least you both seem to agree that… whatever I am feeling, it begins with the letter _M._" Ianto glowered.

"I think maybe you need to see just how phenomenal and fascinating the universe can be!" the Doctor grinned widely.

"We seemed to have moved on to _F._" Jack laughed.

"Phenomenal, Jack… no _F_, and Doctor, I don't doubt that the Universe can be all you say. This is all just so new to me. I just… I don't know where to start."

"It's an _F _sound." Jack pouted.

Ianto moved to wrap his arms around Jack's waist before he continued, "I'd like to… take a step back. Take a day to just relax."

"Relax?" The Doctor grimaced, "Really? Whatever for?"

"Working for Torchwood, the Rift brought us… trouble. Danger. Horror." Ianto rested his head against Jack's chest and thought a moment. "I'd like to go somewhere that won't require running. Could we do that?"

"I like the running." The Doctor tried not to appear defensive, "Running's good."

"I'd like to see somewhere where it isn't… necessary. A world where there isn't currently an impending catastrophic global doom. Doctor, can you…" Ianto paused and turned to look deep into the blue of Jack's eyes, "Show me something… beautiful?"

The Doctor considered Ianto's request and found himself thinking that it would be hard to find anything more beautiful than the sight before him. Like a son, or like something else, there was nothing he thought he could ever deny the boy. The Doctor grinned widely, "Well, seeing as we have all of time and space from which to choose… I suppose we could find someplace that would fit the bill. Someplace with a beautiful view…"

"I think I've already found it." Jack leant forward and kissed Ianto.

It was several moments before they broke apart with a small gasp for air, "Yep. Me too." Ianto smiled.

"Yes, well, anyway. Where were we?" The Doctor straightened his shoulders and headed for the control console, "Oh yes! Someplace beautiful that won't require running!"


	12. Heartbroken

Chapter 12: Heartbroken

"Very amusing." Ianto's deadpan delivery couldn't quite entirely mask the thrill of excited anticipation hidden just barely under his calm and composed surface.

"Well, you did say 'no running'…" The Doctor grinned rather manically, his head weaving ever so slightly from side to side.

"Of course. I simply should have had the foresight to stipulate 'no swimming' as well, I suppose." Ianto couldn't help but smile as the helmet was placed on his head and fastened securely to his dive suit.

Jack tugged at his suit's left glove, thinking that it didn't quite fit right. Well, it wasn't fitting 'like a glove,' in any event. He scowled at it, "Personally, I was kinda imagining lying naked, relaxing _on_ a beach somewhere… not scuba-diving off its coast."

"Will you two just trust me…" The Doctor began.

"Okay." Ianto and Jack answered in unison and that was the end of the matter.

*****

"Beautiful." Jack's voice came through loudly, if a little rough, from the dive helmet comms.

"Yes, it is most certainly that." Ianto's voice was equally husky, but more from emotion than with the effects of the ocean depths on his body or the tinny echo within their helmets. "…And before you start, no one likes to hear 'I told you so,' Doctor."

The Doctor forced himself to close the mouth he had opened to say just exactly that.

A companionable silence fell between them as they swam through the inky azure depths. Unimaginable fish circled the trio curiously before flitting back into the darkness. Coral formations towered high above them on either side, creating the canyon valley through which they now swam. Reaching the end of the reef, the coral abruptly ceased.

"Which way?" Jack glanced over his shoulder and couldn't help but notice that the window of his dive helmet formed a perfect frame for Ianto's dark eyebrows and glittering eyes.

One of the eyebrows arched in contemplation, "Left?"

The Doctor caught up with the others and briefly considered suggesting they turn right, instead. He sighed, releasing a torrent of bubbles that drifted up and away, towards the ocean surface far above them. _Best to let things play out as they will_. If nothing else, he could view it as a test, even if he thought it really too soon to test the young Timelord.

They swam to the left.

*****

"Is that what it looks like?" Jack whispered.

"It depends on what, exactly, you think it looks like." The Doctor answered Jack, but looked intently at Ianto the entire time. "Because, you know, it could look like lots of different things… to different people."

"Well, it looks, _to me_, like the ruins of a city." Jack's eyes were wide with wonder.

"Well, then I suppose the answer is yes. Yes. It is what it looks like." The Doctor frowned and tried to maneuver around to better see Ianto's reaction through the bulky helmet's window.

"I want a closer look!" Jack fairly shouted in the quiet of their undersea locale. He was off and swimming before anyone could respond.

The Doctor reached a gloved hand towards Ianto, but before he could make contact Ianto was gone, following after Jack without a word.

They swam through the ancient ruins, its spires and arches broken and covered with formless black algae and iridescent turquoise barnacles. Jack found himself marveling as much at the considerable size of the city as he was at the impressive architecture. As they moved through what had once been wide avenues and city plazas, past parks and museums, they paused at a statue. Once a tall and impressive public artwork, the figure of a humanoid, perhaps female, was eroded and worn almost beyond all recognition. Like the statue's features, her contributions to the vanished society were long lost and forgotten.

A beep sounded in the Doctor's helmet, followed by a flashing indicator on the back of his glove. Jack turned to look at him and pointed up towards the surface. The Doctor nodded and pointed upwards as well. "Time's up."

"Ready to head back up, Ianto?" Jack smirked and then added in his most suggestive voice, "When we get back to the boat, I can help you off with that wetsuit, if you'd like... And I _know _you'd like what I've got planned next… Ianto?"

Jack moved to where Ianto floated and placed a hand on his shoulder. Gently he turned his young lover to face him. Not sure what was wrong, Jack was alarmed at the expression that met him from behind the glass of the dive helmet.

"Ianto?" Jack tried again, failing to keep the concern from his voice. "What's wrong?"

While Jack could see his lips move briefly, Ianto's reply was so soft it couldn't be picked-up by the helmet's microphone. Jack glanced worriedly at the Doctor, whose expression wasn't much happier. He turned quickly back to Ianto, "What's wrong? Ianto? Can you hear me?" At the lack of appreciable response, he tried again, "Ianto? What's wrong? Is there a problem with your oxygen? Please, answer me…"

Ianto's eyes drifted towards Jack, but the pained expression didn't alter. Quietly, as a tear drifted down his cheek, Ianto whispered, "All of them…" before turning away.

"Doctor, we have to get him out of here. NOW." Jack turned Ianto back to face him again, holding him by both shoulders, "And you! You listen to me, IantoJones! You are going to breathe. Slowly and calmly. And you will keep hold of me. Understand?"

"Jack…?" Ianto's eyes were glassy and held only a trace of recognition.

"Ianto. Look at me." Jack was firm and forced Ianto to maintain the eye contact that only wanted to drift away into the shadowy dark depths surrounding them. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir." Ianto seemed to answer on auto-pilot, and then his eyes once again drifted despondently back to the ruined city over Jack's shoulder.

"Good. Now do as you're told and come with me." Jack grasped the harness that attached Ianto's diving equipment and guided him slowly but steadily back towards the surface. His eyes flitted nervously to the dappled light above them and tried to calculate how long it would take to reach the boat.

*****

Once they had climbed back aboard the boat Jack pulled Ianto's helmet off and stared anxiously into his eyes. Ianto turned to him, but didn't seem to see him at all, his look still distant and unfocussed. Jack glanced helplessly over at where the Doctor was standing, peeling off his diving equipment.

"Leave him, Jack." The Doctor tried to put on a small and reassuring smile, but only managed to attain the 'small' part.

"Doctor-" Jack began.

"He'll be fine, Jack." The Doctor moved closer and cupped Ianto's jaw in a gentle touch. "Just give him some time."

"But he's in shock, or has decompression sickness… We have to do something!" Jack looked up at the boat captain and was on the verge of taking command; ordering him to head to shore, call the Coast Guard, beam them to safety, something. Anything.

The Doctor caught Jack's arm in a gentle hold and was about to explain when Ianto looked up at Jack and appeared to finally see him there. "Dying..." Was all he said before looking away again.

"You're not dying, Ianto. Don't talk like that!" Jack yelled, his voice high-pitched and cracking somewhat in the middle.

"Give him some space, Jack." The Doctor tried to pull Jack back, but Jack wasn't leaving Ianto's side. "He'll be fine. Just give him some time… and space."

"I don't understand…" Jack moaned. He reached towards Ianto even as the Doctor led him a few feet away.

"Ianto's just learned that being a Timelord isn't all it's cracked-up to be… at least not all the time."

"But he… he'll be fine?"

"Eventually." The Doctor sighed and looked at where Ianto sat hunched, still half in his wetsuit, looking like his world had just crumbled and burst into flame, all in one go. "It's difficult… the first time."

"The first time for _what_, Doctor?"

"Dying, dead, can't be fixed." Ianto mumbled quietly.

"What? What was that, Ianto?" Jack rushed back over to him, only to be pulled back once again by the Doctor.

Ianto looked up again with a frown and his lower lip started to tremble, "There's nothing that can be done… Not without destroying _everything_. Every. Thing… They all died. Every one of them. Nothing to be done…"

Jack pulled out of the Doctor's grip and moved back to Ianto. Kneeling in front of the young man, Jack hesitated before placing a hand on his knee and rubbing small circles. "Ianto… It'll be okay… There's nothing you could do-"

Ianto locked eyes with Jack and the reality of his battered emotions hit them both full-force. With a heart-wrenching sob, Ianto launched himself into Jack's arms and finally let himself cry. Jack still didn't understand, but held tightly to Ianto and silently vowed to never let the boy go.

From where he stood a few feet away, the Doctor could feel the pain and passion emanating from the young Timelord and his hearts ached in sympathy. Almost as difficult as the day a Timelord is first made to look into the unfiltered Vortex for the first time; if he could have protected Ianto from this forever, he would have. But the time would have eventually come, if not here and now, somewhere and somewhen. Agonizing as it was, Ianto now understood.

Eventually Ianto had seemed to settle down, or at the very least, he was breathing fairly normally again. The Doctor sat with him after forcing Jack to give them some time to talk while Jack went to change out of the wetsuit and back into his clothes. While the idea of a long talk may have been a good and necessary one, it just didn't seem to be happening. The Doctor knew that this was a realization that wasn't something a casual chat would ever, could ever, help. This was an awareness that had to come on its own.

By the time Jack reappeared, the farthest the Doctor had gotten into their discussion was his, 'If it helps, I do know what it feels like...' Ianto's reply of, 'No, Doctor, you know full well that that doesn't help… But thank you anyway.' Had pretty much ended their chat right then and there.

Ianto then had disappeared below decks to change back into his usual clothes, himself. Jack had been reluctant to let him go alone but had finally relented, and had spent the time pacing the deck nervously.

*****

Ianto reappeared on deck just as they were pulling into the harbor. Dressed impeccably in his grey pinstripe with the burgundy shirt and black stripy tie, Ianto was again in control of his appearance as well as his outwardly perceptible emotions. He offered both the Doctor and Jack a small smile, followed-up with a slight nod as he slowly walked to the railing and watched the horizon. For now the best Ianto could manage was to reach out and feel the planet continue to spin on its axis, and to remember to breathe.

Despite the apparent control and calm, the Doctor could almost sense the shadow still lurking on Ianto's soul. The realization that the city below the waves was a fixed point in time. Nothing could be done to save them. Ever.

While Ianto had been below deck, the Doctor had explained to Jack, as best as he possibly could, that Ianto's stunned response had been his dawning realisation of his Timelord understanding of all the things he can never change. Jack would never fully understand. He couldn't. He would try, for Ianto, but he could never really understand the way a Timelord does.

Even now, with a small false smile plastered on his sweet and oh-so-sympathetic features, not even Ianto Jones, master of control, couldn't hide it fully. _That _realisation. The Doctor could see the profound sadness deep in Ianto's eyes. As if he remembered everything. Not just his own sad experiences, but the heartbreaks of everyone, everywhere, throughout all of time and space. There was an emptiness, as if there were things he knew now that he'd be much happier if he had never known or could just forget. Events fixed in time were final and without hope of repair. The Doctor suddenly appreciated that Ianto had come to understand not just the inevitability of the fate of the underwater city, but that he grasped it all. The responsibility, the loneliness, the despair. Ianto now understood what it meant, and how it felt, to be a Timelord. Ianto understood… all too well that some things had to stay broken.

Ianto's hearts were heavy with his Timelord awareness that there were some events that just could never be changed; some people who could never be saved. A small smile tickled the farthest corner of Ianto Jones' lips as he looked back out to sea. …And then again, there were some that could.


End file.
